Joe Biden's Presidency

[ronwagn + 6,290]

18 hours ago, Dan Warnick said:

Let's begin this exciting thread with His inauguration, shall we?  As the most popular President in the history of the United States, it promises to be unique (if not rather low key).  The masses of viewers on the ground will be from all parts of the U.S., with National Guard units flown in from all points of the country.  Alright, I'll stop.  Here's a great first article to get this going.

US Prepares for One of the Most Unusual Inaugurations in History

Article in Full.

WASHINGTON—President-elect Joe Biden is set to be sworn in on Jan. 20 amid unparalleled security measures and the pandemic lockdown, making it one of the most untraditional inaugurations in U.S. history.

Like many predecessors, Biden is going to be sworn in on the steps of the Capitol building. But the traditional parade down Pennsylvania Avenue, which normally draws hundreds of thousands of Americans, has been canceled, to be replaced by a virtual parade. Inaugural balls have been canceled as well.

The viewing stand near the White House has been dismantled, making this event likely the smallest inauguration in history, in terms of physical attendance. While a low turnout is expected, the event will be unusually tight in security and law enforcement.

National Guard troops near the Capitol building in Washington on Jan. 15, 2021. (Charlotte Cuthbertson/The Epoch Times)

This inauguration is unique in its own way, according to David Pietrusza, political historian, author, and expert on presidential electoral history.

In terms of people being so on edge, the flooding of troops and security into Washington, and the COVID-19 pandemic, “there’s no really great precedent for that,” he told The Epoch Times.

But there are different examples in history where things didn’t go like clockwork and weren’t uneventful, he said.

According to historians, Abraham Lincoln’s first inaugural address was the most stressful one, as the threat of war hung heavy in the air. Six weeks after the speech the Civil War, which claimed about 2 percent of the American population, erupted.

“Certainly the country was in worse shape and people were more on edge in 1861 with Lincoln. There’s no comparison to that,” Pietrusza said.

While security ahead of the Civil War was a big deal, measures that have been put in place this year in preparation for Biden’s inauguration also are unprecedented, he noted.

This is the first time an inauguration has been declared a National Special Security Event, not days before, but a full week before the actual event.

Security around the Capitol building in Washington on Jan. 15, 2021. (Charlotte Cuthbertson/The Epoch Times)

Authorities have taken aggressive measures in the city amid growing concerns that the civil unrest and violence observed on Jan. 6 may be repeated during inauguration week. As many as 25,000 National Guard members from all 50 states, three territories, and the District of Columbia will be stationed in the nation’s capital.

The security measures have brought the city to almost a complete halt. More than a dozen Metro stations around the National Mall and U.S. Capitol building were closed in the days before the inauguration; the streets of Washington are eerily empty.

Buses, streetcars, and other forms of public transportation, even bicycles, have been shut down. Most stores are closed, and many have been boarded up.

The south side of the White House on Jan. 15, 2021. (Charlotte Cuthbertson/The Epoch Times)

President Donald Trump said earlier that he wouldn’t attend the swearing-in ceremony of Biden. He made the announcement one day after Congress certified Biden as the winner of the 2020 election.

Trump won’t escort Biden in a motorcade to the Capitol, which is another break from tradition. However, it isn’t the first time a president has refused to attend the inauguration of his successor.

John Adams, the second president of the United States, left Washington before Jefferson’s inauguration in 1801.

The situation that year was very divided, and in some ways similar to 2021. Jefferson’s supporters characterized his opponent, Adams, as a lover of monarchy, while Adams’s supporters pictured Jefferson as a radical. Some say Adams didn’t attend Jefferson’s inauguration to prevent any violence at the event.

Security around the Capitol building in Washington on Jan. 15, 2021. (Charlotte Cuthbertson/The Epoch Times)

John Quincy Adams, the sixth U.S. president, left Washington a day before, declining to attend Andrew Jackson’s ceremony in 1829.

Other presidents who didn’t watch their successors take the oath of office were Martin Van Buren (1841) and Andrew Johnson (1869).

It’s “unfortunate” that Trump isn’t attending the ceremony, John Gizzi, Newsmax’s chief political columnist, told The Epoch Times. (DW: Gratuitous plug?  )

“As someone who’s witnessed, not only the transfer of power, but the tradition of the incoming president paying tribute to the outgoing president, that is something that surely is going to be missing,” he said. “You miss not only the handoff, so to speak, but you also miss the tradition of graciousness.”

For more than 200 years, the tradition of inauguration parades, celebrations, and displays of patriotism have continued despite scattered protests, including at Trump’s 2017 inauguration.

“The pomp and pageantry are as American as you can get,” Gizzi said.

Extra security barriers block the roads at F and 14th streets in Washington on Jan. 15, 2021. (Charlotte Cuthbertson/The Epoch Times)

“Hearing the orchestras, seeing the president and vice president waving from the cars, sometimes getting out and marching with the crowd—all of that is something that’s so richly American to the point that it’s timeless. When that is removed, it takes a little bit of the mystique of the transition away,” he added.

This year’s inauguration, according to Gizzi, is most compared to the fourth and final inauguration of Franklin D. Roosevelt, who was sworn in on Jan. 20, 1945, at the White House on the portico overlooking the backyard.

Roosevelt preferred to hold a simple ceremony because of World War II, which claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands of American citizens. That presidential inauguration lasted only 15 minutes.

This time, there won’t be a lot of pomp because of the CCP virus, Gizzi said.

Kay Rubacek and NTD News’ Learner Liu contributed to this report.

You can follow my new topic: 

2021 and Beyond with Socialists

in Charge of America  

                                           

https://docs.google.com/documet/d/1sDRHKFADogqCeavv9PcJaU_Zo7irqrnusshM51UN4fE/edit   It will be updated frequently and will be comprehensive. 

 

[Ward Smith + 6,615]

For the nincompoops still pretending antifa Wasn't directing the riots

[Ward Smith + 6,615]

 

Edited January 19, 2021 by Ward Smith

[Ward Smith + 6,615]

Edited January 19, 2021 by Ward Smith

[Dan Warnick + 6,100]

1 hour ago, Ward Smith said:

For the nincompoops still pretending antifa Wasn't directing the riots

Watching that video, what struck me was that no Trump supporter, no patriot, no citizen of the United States that wants better for his country and countrymen (Amen, Awomen, AKissMyAxx), would use the flag as a club and/or battering ram to break windows and damage property.

These immature unguided/misguided boys have no respect for, or possibly even any awareness of, those men and women before them that sacrificed to make that flag, to defend our freedoms, to create this republic, and to earn the right to say "Don't Tread On Me".

They are in dire need of a belt out back of the woodshed, and then some.

[Dan Warnick + 6,100]

27 minutes ago, Ward Smith said:

 

Translation

I urge every American to:

-Stay scared

-Don't talk amongst yourselves

-Don't have political meetings

We can control countless lives if we step up together.

[Tomasz + 1,608]

Here is another problem for Joe Biden in Europe

Quote

 

A poll of 15,000 Europeans in 11 countries conducted for the European Council on Foreign Relations has revealed that in no surveyed country would a majority want to take Washington’s side in a conflict with Russia. “Amazing only 36 percent of respondents in Poland and 40 percent in Denmark say that their country should side with the U.S. in such a scenario,” write Ivan Krastev and Mark Leonard in their analysis of the poll conducted for ECFR by Datapraxis and YouGov in November and December 2020. “This shift in perceptions might have as much to do with power as anything else. What Europeans love about the memory of Cold War 1.0 is that they were on the winning side; the fear in many European countries is that Cold War 2.0 might have a different outcome,” they write. 

While most Europeans rejoiced at Joe Biden’s victory in the November U.S. presidential election, they do not think he can help America make a comeback as the pre-eminent global leader. This is the key finding of a pan-European survey of more than 15,000 people in 11 countries commissioned by the European Council on Foreign Relations.”

“Majorities in key member states now think the U.S. political system is broken, that China will be more powerful than the U.S. within a decade and that Europeans cannot rely on the U.S. to defend them.”

“At least half of the electorate in every surveyed country would like their government to remain neutral in a conflict between the U.S. and China.”

“Europe’s unwillingness to side with the U.S. also comes out in respondents’ views on a conflict between the U.S. and Russia: in no surveyed country would a majority want to take Washington’s side. Amazingly, only 36 percent of respondents in Poland and 40 percent in Denmark [the countries with the highest support for taking the U.S.’s side] say that their country should side with the U.S. in such a scenario.”

“The main lesson of ECFR’s poll is for the Biden team. The new American administration has a clear idea of how Trump’s four years have changed America, but they should be aware of the Trump effect on Europe’s geopolitics of emotions. Although Europeans will not mourn Trump’s electoral defeat, his legacy will persist long after he has left the White House.”

 

https://ecfr.eu/publication/the-crisis-of-american-power-how-europeans-see-bidens-america/

[SUZNV + 1,197]

3 hours ago, Tomasz said:

Here is another problem for Joe Biden in Europe

https://ecfr.eu/publication/the-crisis-of-american-power-how-europeans-see-bidens-america/

Expectable, the same as US hesitated to join WW2 until the Pearl Harbor. France has never been too friendly with America since WW2 started with De Gaulle and Eisenhower had many differences (nuclear, French colonials) and has never been good. They are proud for their Civilized Culture , particularly Parisians ( Lots of story of people from Quebec go to Paris and were suggested to speak English). 

With the exception of the Gulf War.

Take Germany as the other founder of EU:

Before the Berlin Wall collapsed, Eastern Germany had anti-Americanism out of ideology and a love-hate relationship with Russia. Merkel speaks Russian fluently.

Western Germany didn't really like the US politics  either but love US movies and culture and technologies. 

When my dad got scholarship for a less than engineer degree in Germany (1969), he asked we have high school diploma (at that time if you failed high school or university, the battle field was waiting for you), why should I went to a less than university degree, the West Germany embassy in South Vietnam said: "South Vietnam is a American backyard, so we offered a less degree just for the sack of diplomacy". Later my father worked his way up to an engineering degree (7-8 years-degree). His first homestay was a proud bodyguard of Hitler when my father asked about Hitler. 

But among scholar, there were a Berlin University's Electrical Engineer  professor told my Dad: "I know you the top of Vietnam and that is why you are here. If I was the top of Germany then I would be in the US "

After the Berlin Wall collapsed:

Germain are proud people. They are ready to pay high Tax to protect EU market away of China and US manufacturing. Unlike US, Germany didn't really outsource much of the manufacturing lines to China. They are nowadays more about Soft power than military power. 

In 2003, Germany refused to support the American-led invasion of Iraq with is understandable. We have freedom of speech in international level.

Trump in 2019 were asking for 150% money of stationary and withdrawn part of the troops, but it is for negotiation and both have the right to comply or not.

The modern event that damaged the relationship is the 2013 wiki leak revelations of NSA spying on top German officials, including Merkel for decades. Since there no trust left, it is simply "friends with benefits". And Biden is Obama VP so I doubt he can improve the trust. But they share same goal in Green New Deal and limit US shale oil which means "all you can eat oil" from Russia.

Yes political in US is broken, but so is China. The meme of China will be to top super power simply an excuse to ignore all of their misdeeds in both US and EU. At the end of the day, US troops are the one has the most experiences in modern warfare.

China wouldn't risk real war with the US if they can tear US apart from the inside with Socialism movement, sparked by Soviet Union since the Cold War. China just picked up  the movement in the US and continue. US is the most anti-Socialism built in their culture of individualism. Most other countries aren't, they still think it is achievable with the exception of UK, India, and Israel because these had some taste of  socialism in the past. Others may anti-Americanism more than anti-socialism.

-----------------------------

US's weakness laid in giving up its individualism values and adapt socialism values , up to the point to have a fast track for illegal  immigrants path to citizenship in 8 years. Mind you that many company-sponsoring legal working visa talent wait for more than 8 years to have the Green Card. Good luck with the US welfare and health care system.  I don't know about open border plan yet but I cannot see why Dem wouldn't do that.

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/biden-immigration-billl-illegal-immigrants-path-to-citizenship

China's weakness is in its economy and management. Managing of Company with 1.4 billions people with no trust and lack of delegation to the subordinates because of being afraid of taking responsibility is the problems and careers progress. Traditional problem with dictatorship, no one dare to bring up the bad news or raise an alarm from local to top level. Covid19 in Wuhan is the perfect example, assuming that it was not planned but an accident from the lab.

Corruption officers & rich people who would move their assets oversea in the fear of the idea that Xi would nationalized private capital to have the sole control of the economies to manage it more efficiently and consequences of US trade war and Covid19 and the flooding . Since Hongkong path is now closed, the only way to do that now is by bitcoin ( yes I know it is banned in China):

$50 billion in cryptocurrency has flowed out of China over the past 12 months

https://asiatimes.com/2020/08/billions-in-crypto-flowing-out-of-china/

I suspect bitcoin price goes up because of these movement. If it is because of inflation out of China, then gold price should shoot up as well.

China's economy are not transparent or with Wester standard of auditions, along with "national secret".

For most of the countries GDP calculated by :

 GDP = private consumption (demand) + gross investment + government investment + government spending + (exports – imports)

For China:

 GDP = production  means for non-export (supply)  + gross investment + government investment + government spending + (exports – imports)

So GDP in China can be adjusted by the factor value to convert from productions to private consumption and hence make manipulate the growth rate and GDP. 

Example:

In other countries, I built  houses and the number of houses I sold will be calculated in the GDP with the price I sold for each, in total. The unsold houses aren't counted yet

In China, the houses I built all counted in the GDP sold or not, with the unsold houses value are estimated. In some area you are forbidden to sell the house under a certain threshold because it will affect this kind of calculations. You can leave them empty as the land are usually confiscated cheaply.

@0R0 let me know if my example about China's way to calculate GDP is correct, I don't mind my stupidity exposed here . I am interested in China because Vietnam may following exactly the same way to calculate. 

Edited January 20, 2021 by SUZNV

[Roch + 537]

On 1/18/2021 at 7:32 PM, Roch said:

 

Just read Vegas has a prop bet , the number of Biden gaffes during his speech.  The over/under was 4.5

I put down a few bucks

I took the under.  He may have a gaffe or two but I can't imagine 4

I'm doing an informal unscientific poll of which Cackle is more annoying Hillary  vs  Kamala

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-E4khufYkI

Personally I think Hillary's laugh is very annoying , whereas  Kamala's comes across as more fun loving , however every other comment solicits a laugh which becomes annoying.  Kamala can't get thru an interview without laughing every other question. 

 

 

Edited January 21, 2021 by Roch

[Dan Warnick + 6,100]

2 hours ago, SUZNV said:

Before the Berlin Wall collapsed, Eastern Germany had anti-Americanism out of ideology and a love-hate relationship with Russia. Merkel speaks Russian fluently.

Merkel, since the age of 3 months, was raised in East Germany.  Having worked with some people who came over from the East German side upon reunification, I can tell you they do think a tad different.  Read about her early years:

Angela Merkel

(the first section of that Wiki is poorly written, but the sections after that seek to sort it out)

[Ward Smith + 6,615]

NSFW  but amusing nevertheless

Anyone ever explain why so many rappers love Trump? 

 

[Ward Smith + 6,615]

Best video yet

Bowels of hell indeed. Demoncrats know who and what they worship, they just crave power over you that much, they've literally sold their souls. Sad but true

[0R0 + 6,251]

3 hours ago, Ward Smith said:

NSFW  but amusing nevertheless

Anyone ever explain why so many rappers love Trump? 

 

Doesn't want to tax them into the poorhouse.

[turbguy + 1,391]

It is done.

[Dan Warnick + 6,100]

Well, here's your boy.  3rd Executive Order he signed on camera is the Paris Climate Accord (1st was the incredible Mask Mandate, the 2nd was something about communities, mumble mumble).  He seemed to have some difficulty picking up a pen so I think Dr. Jill should order some of these right away.  They look very Presidential and they have a neck strap so the Most Popular President in History will always know where his "big pen" is.

 

[Boat + 1,315]

On 1/19/2021 at 3:59 PM, Tomasz said:

Here is another problem for Joe Biden in Europe

https://ecfr.eu/publication/the-crisis-of-american-power-how-europeans-see-bidens-america/

An excellent reason to pull troops and shut down bases in Europe. China and Russia will be more than happy to guide the EU. 
When your lands are filled with Chinese workers and your oceans filled with fishing boats don’t be getting on that phone asking what to to to get rid of them. Assuming you still have phone privileges.

Edited January 21, 2021 by Boat

[Boat + 1,315]

43 minutes ago, Dan Warnick said:

Well, here's your boy.  3rd Executive Order he signed on camera is the Paris Climate Accord (1st was the incredible Mask Mandate, the 2nd was something about communities, mumble mumble).  He seemed to have some difficulty picking up a pen so I think Dr. Jill should order some of these right away.  They look very Presidential and they have a neck strap so the Most Popular President in History will always know where his "big pen" is.

 

And he killed the XL pipeline for at least 4 years. If he wants my next vote he needs to kill flaring as well. Let’s add testing water, before during and after drilling a well. Then legal guarantees The well capped, infrastructure removed and land restored. A new fee to the FF industry to clean those 2 million or so uncapped wells left as FF legacy. We can get into other FF problems later. Like why Republicans support Venezuela and Russia oil imports. Let’s kill those, ok? Do we really need foreign refineries refining foreign oil imports on US land? More Republican legacy trash to clean up.

Edited January 21, 2021 by Boat

[Dan Warnick + 6,100]

27 minutes ago, Boat said:

And he killed the XL pipeline for at least 4 years. If he wants my next vote he needs to kill flaring as well. Let’s add testing water, before during and after drilling a well. Then legal guarantees The well capped, infrastructure removed and land restored. A new fee to the FF industry to clean those 2 million or so uncapped wells left as FF legacy. We can get into other FF problems later. Like why Republicans support Venezuela and Russia oil imports. Let’s kill those, ok? Do we really need foreign refineries refining foreign oil imports on US land? More Republican legacy trash to clean up.

Valid points, I'd say.

[Jeffrey Brown + 207]

If I were a MAGA/QAnon supporter sitting in jail after attacking the Capitol, and possibly facing felony murder charges (which is a first degree murder charge BTW), I'd feel a mite foolish about now, since I thought that I was following Dear Leader* to the Capitol Building.  

*Dear Leader told the mob he would be with them on the march on the Capitol Building, and then scurried away to the White House, kind of like how he couldn't deal with the Inauguration, and instead scurried away to Florida.  

Come to think of it, I'd also feel a mite foolish about now if I had wasted countless hours spreading lies and disinformation about a "Stolen election."  

QAnon believers are realizing their entire conspiracy was a hoax as Biden is sworn in 

https://theweek.com/speedreads/962130/qanon-believers-are-realizing-entire-conspiracy-hoax-biden-sworn

President Biden has taken office, former President Donald Trump is in Florida, and the U.S. still hasn't seen a mass arrests of Democrats or a nationwide blackout.

All of these facts were shocking for some followers of the far-right conspiracy theory QAnon, as they thought and hoped that Trump would somehow seize permanent power on Wednesday, NBC News reports. But as Biden was sworn in without a hitch, QAnon message boards lit up with followers who realized a violent overthrow of the government wasn't about to happen, that Trump had no secret plans to somehow stay in office, and that they'd been wrong for months, if not years.

[Jeffrey Brown + 207]

On 1/19/2021 at 9:51 AM, Jan van Eck said:

In any event, the Democrats have placed enough concertina wire around the Capitol to turn the place into another Uighur detention center.  I predict that Chinese-style "social credits" accounting on the political speech of Americans will be their next move. I am not impressed with the partisans of the Democratic party and their commitment to American principles of vigorous political speech and personal freedom.  I get the impression that you align yourself with those folks, in which case in all candor the country would be better served with your energies focused on promoting ideas of  American free speech and action among those Party stalwarts.  Going back to the heavy hand of bureaucrats running everybody's lives, and export of American jobs and technology to Asia, is not an appealing vision, at least not to me.

One has to do what one has to do when faced with white nationalist traitors, who two weeks earlier stormed the Capitol Building, apparently trying to find and kill Pence and Pelosi.

In any case, the unconditional priority was defeating the white nationalist fascist* in the White House

*Even the co-founder of the Federalist Society called Trump a fascist, in the final months of his administration. 

[Hotone + 412]

21 hours ago, Ward Smith said:

NSFW  but amusing nevertheless

Anyone ever explain why so many rappers love Trump? 

 

I think the rapper expressed himeslf best at 2:28 into this song.  NSFW.

 

Edited January 21, 2021 by Hotone

[Hotone + 412]

2 hours ago, Boat said:

An excellent reason to pull troops and shut down bases in Europe. China and Russia will be more than happy to guide the EU. 
When your lands are filled with Chinese workers and your oceans filled with fishing boats don’t be getting on that phone asking what to to to get rid of them. Assuming you still have phone privileges.

@Tomasz

There is a blue collar boom in China at the moment, so it doesn't seem that those workers will migrate to Europe any time soon.  

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/15/business/china-gdp-growth.html?action=click&module=RelatedLinks&pgtype=Article

On the other hand, fresh graduates in China can't find jobs.  However, having dealt with some of them, I think that many are pretty useless outside of China due to communication and cultural issues.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/18/business/china-graduate-school-white-collar.html

Edited January 21, 2021 by Hotone

[SUZNV + 1,197]

1 hour ago, Jeffrey Brown said:

One has to do what one has to do when faced with white nationalist traitors, who two weeks earlier stormed the Capitol Building, apparently trying to find and kill Pence and Pelosi.

In any case, the unconditional priority was defeating the white nationalist fascist* in the White House

*Even the co-founder of the Federalist Society called Trump a fascist, in the final months of his administration. 

Please provide evidences with the claim of trying to find and kill Pence and Pelosi. Secondly the motivation, what would Trump and his nationalists gain from kill Pence and Pelosi? Why didn't they attempt it earlier? People can draw text in front of Pelosi house but have to go to the capital to find her?

It Trump is a white nationalist fascist, shouldn't he use military to destroy the medias, arrest his political opponents? I haven't seen any fascist leader that didn't arrest the one challenge their powers in history.

And you are championing against conspiracies?

You cannot put the word "nationalists" along with "traitors". Even a traitor can still be a good man and son of a US president. The good part cancel out the bad part.

 

 

Edited January 21, 2021 by SUZNV

[Boat + 1,315]

1 hour ago, Dan Warnick said:

Valid points, I'd say.

Thanks Dan. These are important but still fluff issues. I do believe in American FF independence and love my ice cars throughout my life. I’m just not afraid of a better product for a cheaper price. For me it may not happen but for the rich it is beginning to happen. Like solar and wind, it works in some places but less so in others. People make it political which to me is silly but whatever. Advances in tech will determine what happens and at what speed, not a vote for one party or another.

[Strangelovesurfing + 737]

22 hours ago, Ward Smith said:

NSFW  but amusing nevertheless

Anyone ever explain why so many rappers love Trump? 

 

It's the bling!

Edited January 21, 2021 by Strangelovesurfing