Scrutable

The transition is steaming ahead. The White House senior staff is in place (lots of ex-Obama staff). Today we've had foreign and nat security appointments (lots of ex-Obama officials). Looks very Obama term-3 ish.

https://buildbackbetter.com/the-adminis ... ppointees/

Antony Blinken to be Secretary of State
https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/23/politics ... index.html

Fun fact, he grew up in France and speaks fluent French.

ETA John Kerry also spoke French.

lpm wrote: ↑

Mon Nov 23, 2020 7:15 pm

The transition is steaming ahead. The White House senior staff is in place (lots of ex-Obama staff). Today we've had foreign and nat security appointments (lots of ex-Obama officials). Looks very Obama term-3 ish.

https://buildbackbetter.com/the-adminis ... ppointees/

Hooray! Make America Great Again!

Looks like the Biden administration has opened an embassy in the climate.

Woodchopper wrote: ↑

Mon Nov 23, 2020 7:27 pm

ETA John Kerry also spoke French.

I seem to recall seeing John Kerry speaking French on TV once, and also Mitt Romney (who spent time in Europe on that programme the Mormons have where their smartly dressed young members accost people in the street, usually in English - it's hilarious). My recollection is that neither actually spoke French in a way that would get, say, François Hollande or Emmanuel Macron to send their interpreters home for the day, unlike (to my surprise) Tony Blair, whose French seems to be quite good for someone who has not lived in a French-speaking country for a long time. Blair was filmed once visiting Sarkozy and the two got on like a house on fire, all in French. (Macron has, I think, a reasonable working grasp of English, as you would need for the career that he had in finance, but he still has Ze Outrageous Accehhhnt.)

So who had 22nd November 2020 down for the “First Liberal Whinge About the Biden Administration” sweepstake?

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfr ... erful-post

Something something something may as well have let Trump win.

Antony Blinken does not seem too impressed with Brexit...

Little waster wrote: ↑

Mon Nov 23, 2020 10:35 pm

So who had 22nd November 2020 down for the “First Liberal Whinge About the Biden Administration” sweepstake?

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfr ... erful-post

Something something something may as well have let Trump win.

What else was Biden meant to do? Anyway, as of an hour ago he seems to gave got the Federal money. Looks like the coup might be over.

Care taken, it seems, to avoid leaving openings that might be difficult to fill if the Georgia runoffs don't give him senate control. Yellen, for example, as treasury secretary leaves Brainard in her role at the federal reserve, meaning there won't be an opportunity for the Republicans to mess about with the federal reserve.

And lots of people who have already held roles, usually in the Obama Administration, so they can hit the ground running.

However, I'm sure there'll be cries of "Biden's re-stocking the swamp!"

Agency transition teams:
https://buildbackbetter.gov/the-transit ... iew-teams/

Martin_B wrote: ↑

Tue Nov 24, 2020 3:54 am

And lots of people who have already held roles, usually in the Obama Administration, so they can hit the ground running.

However, I'm sure there'll be cries of "Biden's re-stocking the swamp!"

They are expecting to find everything in a bit of a mess, so it makes sense to bring in people who can remember what it used to be like.

AMS wrote: ↑

Tue Nov 24, 2020 7:19 am

Martin_B wrote: ↑

Tue Nov 24, 2020 3:54 am

And lots of people who have already held roles, usually in the Obama Administration, so they can hit the ground running.

However, I'm sure there'll be cries of "Biden's re-stocking the swamp!"

They are expecting to find everything in a bit of a mess, so it makes sense to bring in people who can remember what it used to be like.

S'gonna be like going into a museum store-room and finding nothing but empty shelves.
"Where is everything?"
"Ah, it was just a load of old sh.t that han't been used for ages: we tidied it up and chucked it out"

Little waster wrote: ↑

Mon Nov 23, 2020 10:35 pm

So who had 22nd November 2020 down for the “First Liberal Whinge About the Biden Administration” sweepstake?

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfr ... erful-post

Something something something may as well have let Trump win.

I didn't really view that as a criticism on Biden specifically, so much as the culture of partisan funding for government transition:

Such pleading erodes the distinction between campaigning and governance. It provides partisan funding for what is part of the state. At a time when America is so polarised, such funding makes it more difficult to be a “president for all Americans”. It further privatises governance, leverages the power of lobbyists and special interests and undermines the authority of the president-elect: the most powerful figure in the world begging for your loose change.

Trump’s refusal to accept the election result and the farcical conspiracy theories peddled by his lawyers are undermining US democracy, but in the long term there is something deeply corrosive about turning transition into a crowd-funded partisan process.

Seems to lay the ultimate blame at Trump's feet, so "may as well have elected Trump" is a total strawman there.

It's hardly an original observation that the amount of private money in US politics leads to wide-open vulnerabilities to corruption, so it's right to be concerned about a development that increases that. Maybe Biden had no choice because he and the Democratic Party have spent all their funds on the election and don't have $10m left.

If that's the case, the federal government needs to ensure this can't happen again, and I'm sure Biden's already working on a plan to fix it. For instance, maybe the GSA shouldn't need presidential approval to release funding?

Bird on a Fire wrote: ↑

Tue Nov 24, 2020 9:08 am

Little waster wrote: ↑

Mon Nov 23, 2020 10:35 pm

So who had 22nd November 2020 down for the “First Liberal Whinge About the Biden Administration” sweepstake?

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfr ... erful-post

Something something something may as well have let Trump win.

I didn't really view that as a criticism on Biden specifically, so much as the culture of partisan funding for government transition:

Such pleading erodes the distinction between campaigning and governance. It provides partisan funding for what is part of the state. At a time when America is so polarised, such funding makes it more difficult to be a “president for all Americans”. It further privatises governance, leverages the power of lobbyists and special interests and undermines the authority of the president-elect: the most powerful figure in the world begging for your loose change.

Trump’s refusal to accept the election result and the farcical conspiracy theories peddled by his lawyers are undermining US democracy, but in the long term there is something deeply corrosive about turning transition into a crowd-funded partisan process.

Seems to lay the ultimate blame at Trump's feet, so "may as well have elected Trump" is a total strawman there.

It's hardly an original observation that the amount of private money in US politics leads to wide-open vulnerabilities to corruption, so it's right to be concerned about a development that increases that. Maybe Biden had no choice because he and the Democratic Party have spent all their funds on the election and don't have $10m left.

If that's the case, the federal government needs to ensure this can't happen again, and I'm sure Biden's already working on a plan to fix it. For instance, maybe the GSA shouldn't need presidential approval to release funding?

Fair points but the strapline was:-

There is something absurd about grifting from the very people who voted for him

Now you can put that down to the sub-editor however the implication (and the hook driving the clicks) is that Biden is just like Trump in openly "grifting" off his supporters, to the point they even use that exact word.

We were used to it with Trump, but with this the Guardian feeds the swamp notion and the sense that they are really just as bad as each other, which drives apathy and makes you wonder why they are pushing that narrative even before Biden walks in the door.

Well - could the Dems really not find $10m without sending out a newsletter asking supporters for it? It does feel a bit gross and irresponsible.

I agree that the headline and strapline were probably a subeditor, probably trying to generate some clickbaity controversy.

Little waster wrote: ↑

Mon Nov 23, 2020 10:35 pm

So who had 22nd November 2020 down for the “First Liberal Whinge About the Biden Administration” sweepstake?

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfr ... erful-post

Something something something may as well have let Trump win.

Just to point out from that article

This article was amended on 22 November 2020 because the amount the US government normally funds an administration transition process is $10m, not $10bn as an earlier version said.

Somebody should have caught that earlier

Out by $990m, but who cares?

Bird on a Fire wrote: ↑

Tue Nov 24, 2020 9:32 am

Well - could the Dems really not find $10m without sending out a newsletter asking supporters for it? It does feel a bit gross and irresponsible.

I really don't know. Campaign finance laws are complicated so I don't know whether the Democrats are able to move funds from one account to another.

Woodchopper wrote: ↑

Tue Nov 24, 2020 9:42 am

Bird on a Fire wrote: ↑

Tue Nov 24, 2020 9:32 am

Well - could the Dems really not find $10m without sending out a newsletter asking supporters for it? It does feel a bit gross and irresponsible.

I really don't know. Campaign finance laws are complicated so I don't know whether the Democrats are able to move funds from one account to another.

Mmm. But this isn't campaigning any more - he's won. This is just getting on with being president-elect.

The Fifth Risk by Michael Lewis describes Trump's initial failure to engage with establishing a transition team - particularly in the pre-election period

The first time Donald Trump paid attention to any of this was when he read about it in the newspaper. The story revealed that Trump’s very own transition team, led by New Jersey governor Chris Christie, had raised several million dollars to pay the staff. The moment he saw it, Trump called Steve Bannon, the chief executive of his campaign, from his office, on the twenty-sixth floor of Trump Tower, and told him to come immediately to his residence, many floors above. Bannon stepped off the elevator to find the governor of New Jersey seated on a sofa, being hollered at. Trump was apoplectic, actually yelling, You’re stealing my money! You’re stealing my f.cking money! What the f.ck is this??

He only agreed to continue funding the transition team preparations when it was clear that if he didn't it would show he didn't expect to win

cvb wrote: ↑

Tue Nov 24, 2020 9:37 am

Little waster wrote: ↑

Mon Nov 23, 2020 10:35 pm

So who had 22nd November 2020 down for the “First Liberal Whinge About the Biden Administration” sweepstake?

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfr ... erful-post

Something something something may as well have let Trump win.

Just to point out from that article

This article was amended on 22 November 2020 because the amount the US government normally funds an administration transition process is $10m, not $10bn as an earlier version said.

Somebody should have caught that earlier

Out by $990m, but who cares?

$9,990 million

Am I alone among ageing computer scientists to hope that, following the nomination of Mr Blinken, Biden will be able to find a Mr Lichten to complete the team?

Bird on a Fire wrote: ↑

Tue Nov 24, 2020 10:02 am

Woodchopper wrote: ↑

Tue Nov 24, 2020 9:42 am

Bird on a Fire wrote: ↑

Tue Nov 24, 2020 9:32 am

Well - could the Dems really not find $10m without sending out a newsletter asking supporters for it? It does feel a bit gross and irresponsible.

I really don't know. Campaign finance laws are complicated so I don't know whether the Democrats are able to move funds from one account to another.

Mmm. But this isn't campaigning any more - he's won. This is just getting on with being president-elect.

Transition funds are their own political action, and not a thing you can spend campaign money on

Bird on a Fire wrote: ↑

Tue Nov 24, 2020 10:02 am

Woodchopper wrote: ↑

Tue Nov 24, 2020 9:42 am

Bird on a Fire wrote: ↑

Tue Nov 24, 2020 9:32 am

Well - could the Dems really not find $10m without sending out a newsletter asking supporters for it? It does feel a bit gross and irresponsible.

I really don't know. Campaign finance laws are complicated so I don't know whether the Democrats are able to move funds from one account to another.

Mmm. But this isn't campaigning any more - he's won. This is just getting on with being president-elect.

Which is something that takes money, money they were meant to receive from the government, but did not receive in a timely fashion because of a mixture of politics and cowardice from someone who had the clear responsibility to grant them that money. The article was sh.tty clickbait, end of.