Paris Climate Agreement
Arctic National Wildlife Refugee
Keystone XL
Etc.
Took one day to reverse everything

I guess it's no reason to panic with the vaccination programme design. The context has changed anyway and we have more useful information from countries which already started the programme (although it seems that politicians aren't considering what epidemiologists advise based on Israel experience ).

I object! Not only am I sporting a closely cropped homemade haircut, but I invariably wear shorts while hanging out in the apartment.

That's just hair-splitting.

Paris Climate Agreement
Arctic National Wildlife Refugee
Keystone XL
Etc.
Took one day to reverse everything

I guess it's no reason to panic with the vaccination programme design. The context has changed anyway and we have more useful information from countries which already started the programme (although it seems that politicians aren't considering what epidemiologists advise based on Israel experience ).

Yes and a little twist on the ANWR - they held the auction and (almost) nobody came.

No big oil companies showed up and only half of the leases received bids at all. The state of Alaska itself picked up most of them and two small companies picked up one site each. The winning bids were a "tiny fraction" of what was projected.  Apparently the larger players do prefer to follow the formal rules.

So a partial win for the environment, the caribou, and people who care about conservation; it is still true that Alaska has economic issues that need to be solved.

Major Oil Companies Take A Pass On Controversial Lease Sale In Arctic Refuge - NPR January 6

Anchorage Daily News - January 21 (Local reaction)

Very fast. And very symbolic. Symbolic of not really wanting to bring America together again.

Ooh - yeah! We just won the election, so now we should do everything the Republicans would have done if they had won (as they still claim to have done), because “bring Murica together!” I don’t think it works that way. Maybe after a few years of trying to undo as much of the damage that can be undone. Eliminating Trump from the picture would have been a good start, but that seems increasingly unlikely. And in the great bringing together spirit, the swamp drainer who had banned political appointees from lobbying their former agencies reversed that decision his last week in office. It only applies to Democrats, because fuck them!

Very fast. And very symbolic. Symbolic of not really wanting to bring America together again.

Here are listings of Executive Orders, by President and by Year, so it is easy to see what Biden has done this way, so far (9 EOs), and also what DT did in 2021 (14 EOs) and 2020 (69 EOs), as well as for the duration of his Presidency (220 EOs):  The Federal Register - Executive Orders.

You can even download it in Excel!  Maybe someone's NLP machine can read through the full text versions and place each of the Orders on a potential red-blue divisiveness scale from 1-10? Then we can discuss. : )

I can’t see a week making that much difference to climate change! But as they say, a week is a long time in politics, gotta keep those divisions going! Otherwise people might start being nice to each other!

I can’t see a week making that much difference to climate change! But as they say, a week is a long time in politics, gotta keep those divisions going! Otherwise people might start being nice to each other!

That one is an important nod to the world, in my opinion. We have a lot of domestic stuff to deal with, but rejoining The Paris Agreement and the WHO send essential messages outward about the approach towards cooperation and collaboration. Please note: I am not saying the WHO is perfect (some of you folks may be very critical of them, I know), but it is an established mechanism for sharing information and coordinating policy on pandemics. And it can be improved.  Being part of the conversations there may help with vaccine rollouts around the world, for example.

More useful stuff for debate:

UNFCC The Paris Agreement
World Health Organization Coronavirus is front and center, of course. 

I’m sure it’s all very important. That’s not the point.

I’m sure it’s all very important. That’s not the point.

Rejoining is not going to be less divisive one week or one month from now - but this stuff is also at GOP-Dem party level and Congress, not the man in the street.  People want to know how much their stimulus checks will be and when will they arrive. $1,400? $2,000?...

This impeachment thing, on the other hand, is a quagmire that goes all the way down.  What do people here think about that? Yay, nay, live to fight another day?

**
 You might appreciate this:

"I have done a thousand dreadful things
As willingly as one would kill a fly,
And nothing grieves me heartily indeed
But that I cannot do ten thousand more."

Revenge can just go on and on and on...

I’m sure it’s all very important. That’s not the point.

Rejoining is not going to be less divisive one week or one month from now - but this stuff is also at GOP-Dem party level and Congress, not the man in the street.  People want to know how much their stimulus checks will be and when will they arrive. $1,400? $2,000?...

This impeachment thing, on the other hand, is a quagmire that goes all the way down.  What do people here think about that? Yay, nay, live to fight another day?

**
 You might appreciate this:

"I have done a thousand dreadful things
As willingly as one would kill a fly,
And nothing grieves me heartily indeed
But that I cannot do ten thousand more."

Revenge can just go on and on and on...

On the impeachment, if we work under the assumption that he will not be convicted, because at most a couple of GOP senators will vote for that regardless of evidence presented, I think it’s kind of a toss-up. In the pro column goes the fact that this will actually be a trial with presentation of evidence and testimony, not all suppressed by Mitch McConnell like last time. The terrorists are increasingly presenting as their defense that the president told them to go and shut down the proceedings in the Capitol, so having Trump on record saying he said no such thing might sow a little bit of contention within the lunatic fringe. The Proud Boys have supposedly already disowned him for being weak because of his (too little too late) speech distancing himself from the killings and other violence, as well as for not pardoning them for doing his bidding. Counting against the whole spectacle are the facts that it will give Trump cheap (not entirely free) media exposure and that it will slow down useful processes that the Senate could otherwise engage in. Aside from a tit for tat exercise of executive orders, there is scope for some constructive legislation to be moved along, too. But, regardless of what I think, it’s moving along. The legal precedent and logic seem pretty clear: no longer holding office is not grounds for immunity from impeachment.

@bearish "at most a couple of GOP senators will vote for that regardless of evidence presented," as opposed to Dems who would vote before any evidence is presented! I am keen to see who will vote against party lines. Personally I think the evidence (that I've seen) is weak, so it's the Dems I'll be watching.

@trackstar "an important nod to the world"! Who on Earth thinks that such a nod is necessary?!! The nods are needed by the US. And I'm sure that the stimulus checks will be highly appreciated. However we are talking about a country where they'd rather lose body parts than have a free health service, so who knows?

not even a nod for Titus Andronicus though. Boo hoo!

Next up for discussion: Free Speech!

How is the Free Speech Union doing these days? Ready to help in the Great Battle of San Jose?

**

and fun fact - certainly, money isn't everything, but the WHO does benefit from US participation.
Now the question is - can they get the policies and logistics right for everyone, even in the far corners of the world?

@bearish "at most a couple of GOP senators will vote for that regardless of evidence presented," as opposed to Dems who would vote before any evidence is presented! I am keen to see who will vote against party lines. Personally I think the evidence (that I've seen) is weak, so it's the Dems I'll be watching.

@trackstar "an important nod to the world"! Who on Earth thinks that such a nod is necessary?!! The nods are needed by the US. And I'm sure that the stimulus checks will be highly appreciated. However we are talking about a country where they'd rather lose body parts than have a free health service, so who knows?

Well - this is a funny case where most of the crimes were televised live, so the presentation of the evidence is somewhat symbolic. As such, it’s probably reasonable to assume that people are coming in with spiked priors.

Very fast. And very symbolic. Symbolic of not really wanting to bring America together again.

"The Power that drove them on and filled them with hate and fury was wavering, its will was removed from them;"

People follow all kinds of leaders and tend venture farther that they would on their own. I don't think Biden should bow to Trump's legacy. I'm sure he will go to the people and hopefully do something about this powder keg.