I do declare, I got one helluva early birthday present yesterday. It’s hard to think of too many things as satisfying as watching Trump slither aboard that Marine Corps helicopter and fly off into oblivion.
Of course, President Biden’s inauguration didn’t really have anything to do with my birthday. The calendar neither knows nor cares who occupies the White House. Much of what happens in our lives is up to us and depends on what we do as our planet circles around its star.
We decide whether our trip around the sun is going to be a good one or not. This time around, it seemed like we were desperately holding on, struggling to get by even as we worked to make the ride a better one. And, by golly we did it. We survived—plenty of folks didn’t. But as we mourned those who didn’t make it, we joined together and worked to make things better, not just for ourselves, but for our families, friends—and even for those who opposed our efforts. Not to mention those who have yet to take their place on the merry-go-round.
Of course, the work’s not done. It never is. But as we start another trip around the sun—a trip that is constantly starting—we have the satisfaction of knowing that we can make things better, no matter what the prophets of doom keep telling us. There’s going to be some dark times ahead, and things won’t always change as much as we’d like. But whatever happens, we know we can lift ourselves out of the worst of times. We know that because we just did it.
Where will we all be at the end of our next journey around ol’ Sol? It’s up to us. It always has been. Come see what we’ve done, and then let’s get back to work.
Let’s start, as I usually do, with a little music. This seems appropriate, both because of the song itself and because, as you watch it, you’ll notice that the picture is not a still photo any more than our world is an unchanging place.
Let’s start with a couple of items about our old “friends” the Trumpanzees, then we’ll forget about them for a while.
Remember how overwhelming mobs of armed pro-Trump fanatics were going to descend on all 50 state capitals in the millions last weekend? How did that go?
A few people demonstrated in some capital cities, with crowds of only a dozen or two, while streets in many other places remained empty. Some protesters said they supported President Donald Trump. But others said they weren’t backing Trump and had instead come to voice their support for gun rights or oppose government overreach.
The roughly 20 protesters who showed up at Michigan’s Capitol, including some who were armed, were significantly outnumbered by law enforcement officers and media.
At Oregon’s Capitol, fewer than a dozen men wearing military-style outfits, black ski masks and helmets stood nearby with semiautomatic weapons slung across their bodies. Some had upside-down American flags and signs reading such things as “Disarm the government.”
At the Texas Capitol, Ben Hawk walked with about a dozen demonstrators up to the locked gates carrying a bullhorn and an AR-15 rifle hanging at the side of his camouflage pants. He condemned the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol and said he did not support Trump.
Wait, what was that about not supporting Trump?
About 100 people, many of them armed and advocating gun rights, gathered peacefully outside the Texas Capitol gates for a few hours Sunday. It was the kind of scene that is common in downtown Austin at the beginning of a legislative session and nothing like the violent protests that authorities feared this weekend at state capitols.
Jeinay LeBlanc, an armed protester who traveled from Bay City to participate in Sunday's protest, said the rally had been planned for months.
"This is not about the election at all," said LeBlanc, who said she's with the Hibiscus Society, a pro-gun rights group.
Looks like Trump finally became so toxic that even the gun nuts abandoned him. Imagine leaving behind a legacy that even your supporters would rather forget.
Of, course, the domestic terrorists haven’t gone away. But now that it’s obvious that they don’t represent any sort of “silent majority,” and now that we have an executive branch which will be actively vigilant, it will be a while before they show themselves on our streets again. Instead of an uprising, last weekend’s demonstrators were just the run-of-the-mill loons that always hang out in front of state houses alongside the flat-earthers and the other conspiracy nuts. Another sign of a return to normalcy.
Meanwhile, Q, the silliest conspiracy theory to ever gain a large following (well, large-ish), is beginning to come apart, and it’s primary leader isn’t even trying to hold it together.
I don’t know what QAnon and the rest of the Trump cultists are going to do when they realize they’ve been had—if they ever do—but there’s always an open invitation:
Now, before we move on, here’s a quick partial roundup of the dismantling of the Trump circus
Beijing sanctioned former U.S. Secretary of State Michael Pompeo and other Trump officials just as Biden was being inaugurated, hitting back at the outgoing team while leaving open the possibility of warmer ties with their successors.
Also on the list of 28 people being sanctioned were former President Donald Trump’s National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien and his deputy Matt Pottinger, trade adviser Peter Navarro, and U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Kelly Craft, according to a statement issued Wednesday by China’s Foreign Ministry. They and their families will be restricted from entering China, Hong Kong or Macau, or doing business with China.
This brings the number of U.S. officials sanctioned by China to at least 44
I couldn’t improve on the article’s original headline.
Ajit Pai, the man who killed net neutrality, enacted a series of industry-friendly deregulatory moves for big telecom, and drank from a gigantic mug, is no longer around to terrorize the internet. The FCC confirmed to Motherboard that Pai is officially gone
Pai stood out among the sea of Trump’s corrupt political employees because he was effective and he survived the entire administration. The former Verizon lawyer fought against net neutrality and won, then danced the Harlem Shake on its grave in one of the biggest cringe videos ever posted online.
Weeks after Kelly Loeffler lost her job as a United States Senator, she’s in danger of losing a second position as co-owner of the WNBA’s Atlanta Dream.
“As it relates to the Atlanta Dream, we understand a sale of the franchise is close to being finalized. Once the sale negotiation is concluded, additional information will be provided," a WNBA spokesperson told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, which first reported the story.
If she ever had the support of her players, Loeffler lost it last year when she denounced the Black Lives Matter movement, calling it a “divisive” and “marxist” organization that “seeks to destroy the American principles.” While she resisted calls for her removal, her players, who endorsed her campaign opponent and wore “Vote Warnock” shirts at games, may get what they've been seeking yet.
“The WNBA is based on the principle of equal and fair treatment of all people and we, along with the teams and players, will continue to use our platforms to vigorously advocate for social justice. Sen. Kelly Loeffler has not served as a governor of the Atlanta Dream since October 2019 and is no longer involved in the day-to-day business of the team,” the league said in a statement last July.
And as for the “man” himself, Trump’s humiliating and graceless defeat is just the beginning of his troubles.
Investigators probing President Donald Trump’s finances have gotten hold of some of his tax records, allowing them to move ahead even without a Supreme Court order that would give them eight years of his returns.
Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr., who subpoenaed Trump’s accounting firm Mazars USA in 2019, is leading one of the most closely watched cases that could result in criminal charges. While Vance agreed to await a high-court decision on forcing the handover of tax records from 2011 to 2018, his office now has some of the information from other sources, according to people familiar with the matter.
A spokesman for Vance’s office declined to comment on what it was looking at, but the Manhattan prosecutor sketched a possible outline for his investigation in a court filing in September.
In that filing, a response to Trump’s complaint that the subpoena amounted to a “fishing expedition,” Vance cited a range of alleged financial misrepresentations by the Trump Organization already reported in the news media. Taken together, his office wrote, the company could have violated various New York statutes related to tax fraud, insurance fraud and the falsification of business records.
As we sit back and watch many of Trump’s minions come to their ignominious end, let’s take a moment for a well-deserved pat on the back for helping make it all happen. Four years ago it would have been so easy to give up and give in to despair. A lot of people were telling us we had no choice. Nevertheless, we persisted.
OK, so how’s this new guy working out so far? Some might say, “Dude, let up. He hasn’t even been in office a full day yet.” Tell those people they can wait if they want, but President Biden has taken off without them.
President-elect Joe Biden has tapped Pennsylvania Health Secretary Rachel Levine to be his assistant secretary of health, leaving her poised to become the first openly transgender federal official to be confirmed by the U.S. Senate.
A pediatrician and former Pennsylvania physician general, Levine was appointed to her current post by Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf in 2017, making her one of the few transgender people serving in elected or appointed positions nationwide. She won past confirmation by the Republican-majority Pennsylvania Senate and has emerged as the public face of the state's response to the coronavirus pandemic.
“Dr. Rachel Levine will bring the steady leadership and essential expertise we need to get people through this pandemic — no matter their zip code, race, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability — and meet the public health needs of our country in this critical moment and beyond," Biden said in a statement. "She is a historic and deeply qualified choice to help lead our administration’s health efforts.”
In one of his first official actions as president, Joe Biden halted the construction of the border wall by rescinding an emergency order imposed by Donald Trump along the Southwest border.
Biden’s executive order, which was signed around 5:40 p.m. EST on Wednesday, dissolved a proclamation issued in 2019 by Trump that had declared an emergency at the U.S.-Mexico border. Proclamation 9844, which Trump issued on Feb. 15, 2019, was “to deal with the border security and humanitarian crisis” at the border, and it allowed the president to access military funds for border security measures.
Just two days before leaving office on Monday, Trump extended the proclamation through Feb. 15, 2022. But with a swipe of his pen on Wednesday afternoon, Biden rescinded it.
The Department of Homeland Security late Wednesday announced two significant immigration policy changes that include a 100-day pause on deportations for some undocumented immigrants. The department also announced that asylum seekers who attempt to enter the United States will no longer be part of a controversial policy enacted under former President Donald Trump that has forced tens of thousands to wait in Mexico for American court hearings.
The deportation moratorium and changes to the Migrant Protection Protocols, also known as "remain in Mexico," come on President Joe Biden’s first day in office where he earlier signed multiple executive orders rolling back additional Trump-era immigration policies.
President Joe Biden on Wednesday issued an executive order to dissolve the 1776 commission, a panel stood up by President Donald Trump as a rebuttal to schools applying a more accurate history curriculum around slavery in the US, Biden's transition team announced Wednesday.
The commission had been formed as an
apparent counter to The New York Times'
1619 Project, a Pulitzer Prize-winning project aimed at teaching American students about slavery that Trump, speaking last fall, had called "toxic propaganda." The announcement comes just two days after the commission issued an inflammatory report on Martin Luther King Jr. Day and just hours before Biden will take over from Trump, whose time in office was marked by racist statements and actions.
This story broke as I was writing today’s Roundup. I think that may be the sort of thing other GNR writers will need to be watching for.
On his first full day in office, President Joe Biden released the details of his sweeping plan to combat the coronavirus, announcing 10 executive orders and directing agencies to use wartime powers to require U.S. companies to make N95 masks, lab equipment, swabs and other equipment to fight the pandemic.
The president’s plan emphasizes ramping up testing for the coronavirus, accelerating the pace of vaccinations and providing more funding and direction to state and local officials in their efforts to respond to the pandemic. A key component of the plan is restoring trust with the American public. It also focuses on vaccinating more people, safely reopening schools, businesses and travel as well as slowing the spread of the vir
President Biden is taking steps to reengage with the World Health Organization (WHO), reversing a decision the Trump administration made in July, several months into the coronavirus pandemic.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Biden signed an executive order Wednesday to stop the U.S.'s departure from the organization, fulfilling a promise he made during the campaign.
Formal withdrawal requires a year's notice, so former President Trump's decision would not have taken effect until July 6.
As part of the move, Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious diseases expert, will head the U.S. delegation to WHO and participate in the organization’s executive board meeting Thursday.
biden puts the brakes on trump’s last-minute orders and regulations
The Census Bureau announced Saturday that data on apportionment — and a related calculation of the number of undocumented immigrants Trump has specifically requested — would not be released until after President-elect Joe Biden is sworn in. Biden has said he opposed Trump’s efforts to exclude undocumented immigrants, who have historically been included.
“Neither the Census Bureau nor the Department of Commerce will report or publicly disclose any population counts or estimates relating to the population as of April 1, 2020, including counts or estimates of the illegal alien/undocumented immigrant population, prior to the change of Administration on January 20, 2021,” the Census Bureau said in a statement.
I’ve only touched the surface of Joe Biden’s first acts as President. You can see a list of all of his executive orders at the new, improved White House website, with links to the text of each order. Notice that each is an actual executive order, in contrast to Trump’s “orders” which usually amounted to little more than “someone should really do something.”
biden’s on top of some of the symbolic things, too
Biden also has a moon rock in his new office, which Trumpanzees will be surprised to learn is not made of green cheese.
All in all, not a bad first 12 hours.
OK, you all knew this song was coming. Here it is.
Can’t stop, won’t stop. Here’s some miscellaneous good news for y’all.
the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development declared Wednesday that the Federal Housing Administration will once again back mortgages for immigrants under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.
In 2019, HUD declared that the FHA would no longer back DACA mortgages after months of uncertainty.
“Determination of citizenship and immigration status is not the responsibility of HUD and the Department relies on other government agencies for this information,” then HUD Assistant Secretary for Congressional and Intergovernmental Relations Len Wolfson said in a letter to Rep. Pete Aguilar, D-Calif. “Accordingly, because DACA does not confer lawful status, DACA recipients remain ineligible for FHA loans.”
Then in 2020, former HUD Secretary Ben Carson walked back those remarks, saying no changes were made and that he would cooperate with an investigation to look into that rule. In the wake of a HousingWire investigation, several lenders reached out and said that they had been told by HUD representatives that DACA recipients were no longer eligible for FHA mortgages.
Now, HUD is officially backing DACA mortgages once again.
“To avoid confusion and provide needed clarity to HUD’s lending partners, FHA is waiving the above referenced FHA Handbook subsection in its entirety,” HUD announced. “In a subsequent update to the FHA Handbook the language will be removed.”
Dollar General employees will receive four hours of pay if they choose to get the COVID-19 vaccine, according to a report from the Wall Street Journal.
The retailer is one of the first large employers to offer employees pay to receive the vaccine. The company has 16,720 retail locations in 47 states and more than 157,000 employees.
Though it’s remarkable that the United States finally is about to have a female vice president, let’s stop calling it an unprecedented achievement. As some recent archaeological studies suggest, women have been leaders, warriors and hunters for thousands of years. This new scholarship is challenging long-held beliefs about so-called natural gender roles in ancient history, inviting us to reconsider how we think about women’s work today.
That’s going to do it for me today. I should probably apologize in advance for my probable absence from the comment section. I may have got Covid from some no-mask SOB at the grocery store—I haven’t got the test results back, but I am symptomatic, so I might be in bed when this goes live. I’ll be OK, but I’m a little off my game today.
If you’re stopping by for the first time, be sure to check out those comments—oftentimes that’s where the really good stuff is. And remember, if you still need more good news—go out and make some of your own. It just got a lot easier.