Octopus Overlords

I know this is small potatoes in comparison to all the other actions today, but I can’t tell you how happy I am to have my career back.

Biden cancels ban on diversity training in the government

Skinypupy wrote: ↑Wed Jan 20, 2021 10:11 pm I know this is small potatoes in comparison to all the other actions today, but I can’t tell you how happy I am to have my career back.

Biden cancels ban on diversity training in the government

It isn't small here. It was one of the personal impacts Trump had, and I'm glad you're in the clear.

Skinypupy wrote: ↑Wed Jan 20, 2021 10:11 pm I know this is small potatoes in comparison to all the other actions today, but I can’t tell you how happy I am to have my career back.

Biden cancels ban on diversity training in the government

So good to hear this!

Probably related, but I didn't realize the Spanish-language element of the official White House website had been removed at some point by the Trump administration; it has been restored. I know I shouldn't have been surprised to learn that, but yeah, I guess I was.

Skinypupy wrote: ↑Wed Jan 20, 2021 10:11 pm I know this is small potatoes in comparison to all the other actions today, but I can’t tell you how happy I am to have my career back.

Biden cancels ban on diversity training in the government

Awesome!

Holman wrote: ↑Wed Jan 20, 2021 10:34 pm

Skinypupy wrote: ↑Wed Jan 20, 2021 10:11 pm I know this is small potatoes in comparison to all the other actions today, but I can’t tell you how happy I am to have my career back.

Biden cancels ban on diversity training in the government

So good to hear this!

And impressed that it was a priority for his first half-day.

Kraken wrote: ↑Thu Jan 21, 2021 12:48 am

Holman wrote: ↑Wed Jan 20, 2021 10:34 pm

Skinypupy wrote: ↑Wed Jan 20, 2021 10:11 pm I know this is small potatoes in comparison to all the other actions today, but I can’t tell you how happy I am to have my career back.

Biden cancels ban on diversity training in the government

So good to hear this!

And impressed that it was a priority for his first half-day.

Wait, does this mean that we need to start treating minority groups with respect again?

El Guapo wrote: ↑Thu Jan 21, 2021 1:28 am
Wait, does this mean that we need to start treating minority groups with respect again?

Wait, does that include Orange Americans?

Biden really showed his class and smarts when asked about Trump's letter to him. By saying only that it was "generous" and not revealing details Biden:

1) Looked conciliatory
2) Took it out of the news
3) Biden doesn't have to answer questions about what he thought about it
4) Not revealing any details keeps Dems from saying how inadequate it was after 2 months of lies
5) Prevents Republicans from spending time defending Trump and just generally starting a dispute when Biden is trying for bipartisanship at the beginning

Very smart.

Grifman wrote: ↑Thu Jan 21, 2021 1:41 am Biden really showed his class and smarts when asked about Trump's letter to him. By saying only that it was "generous" and not revealing details Biden:

1) Looked conciliatory
2) Took it out of the news
3) Biden doesn't have to answer questions about what he thought about it
4) Not revealing any details keeps Dems from saying how inadequate it was after 2 months of lies
5) Prevents Republicans from spending time defending Trump and just generally starting a dispute when Biden is trying for bipartisanship at the beginning

Very smart.

Agree. I can't believe it but he has accomplished more in 6 hours than Agolf did in 6 months.

YellowKing wrote:I know we keep joking about "the adults are in charge again" but it literally does feel like that. This press conference feels like walking into a college lecture after spending four years in a preschool.

Thanks. Very well put.

I just checked Fox News. Apparently yesterday was a series of violent protests and arrests...from the Left lashing out at Biden. I didn't read the articles, just the headlines.

stessier wrote:I just checked Fox News. Apparently yesterday was a series of violent protests and arrests...from the Left lashing out at Biden. I didn't read the articles, just the headlines.

The right wing corporate mouthpiece that is the NYT also has a news story about the protests. (should bookmark this the next time someone says that the liberal media doesn't report this sort of thing)

Holman wrote: ↑Wed Jan 20, 2021 10:34 pm

Skinypupy wrote: ↑Wed Jan 20, 2021 10:11 pm I know this is small potatoes in comparison to all the other actions today, but I can’t tell you how happy I am to have my career back.

Biden cancels ban on diversity training in the government

So good to hear this!

+1

Skinypupy wrote: ↑Wed Jan 20, 2021 10:11 pm I know this is small potatoes in comparison to all the other actions today, but I can’t tell you how happy I am to have my career back.

Biden cancels ban on diversity training in the government

I heard that on NPR on my drive home and gave a little cheer for you - and for the general theme of diversity across the nation and in every organization. It's not small potatoes to restore some measure of equality and understanding your fellow humans, even if it has to be taught.

Grifman wrote: ↑Thu Jan 21, 2021 1:41 am Biden really showed his class and smarts when asked about Trump's letter to him. By saying only that it was "generous" and not revealing details Biden:

"Generous" from Trump could be anything from a single sheet of paper with a big "X" across the middle with a sharpie to a literal photocopy of his ass left on the desk. It's a remarkably vague word with no meaning in this context.

I'm of the opinion that anything left on the desk for Biden was put there by a staffer after Trump exited the building.

Blackhawk wrote: ↑Wed Jan 20, 2021 10:14 pm

Skinypupy wrote: ↑Wed Jan 20, 2021 10:11 pm I know this is small potatoes in comparison to all the other actions today, but I can’t tell you how happy I am to have my career back.

Biden cancels ban on diversity training in the government

It isn't small here. It was one of the personal impacts Trump had, and I'm glad you're in the clear.

Absolutely this.

Biden fires Trump-appointed labor board general counsel who refused to resign.

Democrats poised to rebuff McConnell's filibuster demands.

I've been heartened by early indications that Biden / democratic leadership aren't going to be complete dopes in pursuit of unity / bipartisanship.

El Guapo wrote: ↑Thu Jan 21, 2021 11:10 am Biden fires Trump-appointed labor board general counsel who refused to resign.

I don't have any knowledge of what's up but the article really pulls at my bias, pointing at how the GOP politicians call it "unprecedented" and "divisive". The press know exactly how to push my anti GOP buttons. And seeing GOP related interviews do nothing to dispel the press pushing of these buttons. I don't want become one of the mob but boy does my exposure to the world around me make it hard to resist.

El Guapo wrote: ↑Thu Jan 21, 2021 11:10 am Biden fires Trump-appointed labor board general counsel who refused to resign.
I've been heartened by early indications that Biden / democratic leadership aren't going to be complete dopes in pursuit of unity / bipartisanship.

I see how this was executed as a bit of an error and a missed opportunity. It sticks out from the rest of the agenda as something simply base driven. I think this is why the Republicans glommed to attack it. It gave them wide open attack lines, 'It was anti-business. It was unprecedented.'
The Republicans instinctively are better at figuring out where something is off-message and attack for what is is.

What they could have done instead was link Robb's dismissal to the pandemic effort. They probably easily could have found examples where he didn't fight for workers impacted by coronavirus. Or they could have timed it differently so it wouldn't stick out from the rest. The Republicans would have probably said the exact same thing but there'd be more story armor around it. In any case, this is nothing worth losing sleep over but Biden needs to thread a needle right now on crucial issues and he doesn't need to be spending political capital on 'base preservation' at the moment.

Hope he fires a bunch at the Pentagon too. They blocked his teams every step of the way.

malchior wrote: ↑Thu Jan 21, 2021 12:08 pm

El Guapo wrote: ↑Thu Jan 21, 2021 11:10 am Biden fires Trump-appointed labor board general counsel who refused to resign.
I've been heartened by early indications that Biden / democratic leadership aren't going to be complete dopes in pursuit of unity / bipartisanship.

I see how this was executed as a bit of an error and a missed opportunity. It sticks out from the rest of the agenda as something simply base driven. I think this is why the Republicans glommed to attack it. It gave them wide open attack lines, 'It was anti-business. It was unprecedented.'
The Republicans instinctively are better at figuring out where something is off-message and attack for what is is.

What they could have done instead was link Robb's dismissal to the pandemic effort. They probably easily could have found examples where he didn't fight for workers impacted by coronavirus. Or they could have timed it differently so it wouldn't stick out from the rest. The Republicans would have probably said the exact same thing but there'd be more story armor around it. In any case, this is nothing worth losing sleep over but Biden needs to thread a needle right now on crucial issues and he doesn't need to be spending political capital on 'base preservation' at the moment.

Maybe. I will say reading that Seattle Times article I was left wondering a bit what made the guy particularly obnoxious / important to force out early. But whether that was due to poor messaging by Biden's team, or whether it was a failure at the Seattle Times, I don't know.

I also wouldn't want Biden's team getting too lost on messaging vs. substance, especially for stuff like this - the guy's not a household name in the slightest, Republicans are presumably going to kvetch no matter what they do, and no one's going to remember this at all come mid-term time.

El Guapo wrote: ↑Thu Jan 21, 2021 1:56 pmMaybe. I will say reading that Seattle Times article I was left wondering a bit what made the guy particularly obnoxious / important to force out early. But whether that was due to poor messaging by Biden's team, or whether it was a failure at the Seattle Times, I don't know.

The NY Times wrote: The Trump administration’s efforts to reverse the direction of federal labor policy appear to have accelerated with a proposal to demote the senior civil servants who resolve most labor cases.

Under the proposal, those civil servants — considered by many conservatives and employers to be biased toward labor — would answer to a small cadre of officials installed above them in the National Labor Relations Board’s hierarchy.

The proposal could pave the way for a pronounced shift in the day-to-day workings of the agency, making it friendlier to employers named in complaints of unfair labor practices or facing unionization drives.

Seems like he was a standard Trump appointee, installed to ensure an agency does the opposite of what it's supposed to do.

Speaking of which, has anyone heard from or seen Ben Carson?

Story
He confused "REO" with Oreo.

$iljanus wrote: ↑Thu Jan 21, 2021 9:20 am

stessier wrote:I just checked Fox News. Apparently yesterday was a series of violent protests and arrests...from the Left lashing out at Biden. I didn't read the articles, just the headlines.

The right wing corporate mouthpiece that is the NYT also has a news story about the protests. (should bookmark this the next time someone says that the liberal media doesn't report this sort of thing)

Black Bloc are the 'anarcho' anti-police types - they're basically single-issue voters (if they could be bothered to vote). BLM was a convenient excuse to go throw rocks at police (and spraypaint Amazon Go storefronts on the side).

I've said it before and I'll say it again. I didn't vote for him in the primary. I didn't want him. But I am so glad we have him. His daily addressing me while I'm mostly at home by myself is a source of comfort I didn't know I needed until about two or three weeks ago.

Thank you President Biden. Thank you for answering the call.

Holman wrote: ↑Wed Jan 20, 2021 10:34 pm

Skinypupy wrote: ↑Wed Jan 20, 2021 10:11 pm I know this is small potatoes in comparison to all the other actions today, but I can’t tell you how happy I am to have my career back.

Biden cancels ban on diversity training in the government

So good to hear this!

I feel like I spent half of 2020 in various forms of diversity training and sharing sessions (I am fairly heavily involved with our "allies" organization and the interview/hiring process, so I got more than your average employee). It was a banner year for DIB in private business.

LordMortis wrote: ↑Thu Jan 21, 2021 3:59 pm I've said it before and I'll say it again. I didn't vote for him in the primary. I didn't want him. But I am so glad we have him. His daily addressing me while I'm mostly at home by myself is a source of comfort I didn't know I needed until about two or three weeks ago.

Thank you President Biden. Thank you for answering the call.

...and now I have more free time since I don't have to check in with Colbert, Myers and Oliver regularly to see what the hell 45 and his goons are doing now.

coopasonic wrote: ↑Thu Jan 21, 2021 4:53 pm

Holman wrote: ↑Wed Jan 20, 2021 10:34 pm

Skinypupy wrote: ↑Wed Jan 20, 2021 10:11 pm I know this is small potatoes in comparison to all the other actions today, but I can’t tell you how happy I am to have my career back.

Biden cancels ban on diversity training in the government

So good to hear this!

I feel like I spent half of 2020 in various forms of diversity training and sharing sessions (I am fairly heavily involved with our "allies" organization and the interview/hiring process, so I got more than your average employee). It was a banner year for DIB in private business.

Oh sure, rub it in.

I fully expect that the pendulum will swing back the other direction in the federal sector this year.

Nice response. If you can't hear the question from the reporter, Biden was asked if setting the bar at 100M vaccinations (in a 100 days) was "not high enough" considering the pandemic situation. Joe responded that the media told him it wasn't possible so knock it off.

LordMortis wrote: ↑Thu Jan 21, 2021 3:59 pm I've said it before and I'll say it again. I didn't vote for him in the primary. I didn't want him. But I am so glad we have him. His daily addressing me while I'm mostly at home by myself is a source of comfort I didn't know I needed until about two or three weeks ago.

Thank you President Biden. Thank you for answering the call.

I've become convinced that he's the right man for the circumstances we're in. Being motivated more by his legacy than reelection frees him to follow his True North and put country first.

Kraken wrote: ↑Thu Jan 21, 2021 5:27 pm

LordMortis wrote: ↑Thu Jan 21, 2021 3:59 pm I've said it before and I'll say it again. I didn't vote for him in the primary. I didn't want him. But I am so glad we have him. His daily addressing me while I'm mostly at home by myself is a source of comfort I didn't know I needed until about two or three weeks ago.

Thank you President Biden. Thank you for answering the call.

I've become convinced that he's the right man for the circumstances we're in. Being motivated more by his legacy than reelection frees him to follow his True North and put country first.

I don't think it's his legacy. I think it's reverence for the country and a call to duty. I really don't think he wants to be president. I think he wants the nation to be well and is willing to be president. He's an old dude version of Greta. He wants to be retired and be with family. Instead, he's on TV every day and preparing to engage the public and building the executive office from ashes wholly unrecognizable from what was left four years ago.

But yeah, still, the right person for the circumstance we're in. I wouldn't have thought so a year and a half ago...

To be fair, given that we're already at ~ 900,000 vaccinations a day and growing, targeting 100 million in 100 days isn't a huge improvement over where we already are.

El Guapo wrote: ↑Thu Jan 21, 2021 5:36 pm To be fair, given that we're already at ~ 900,000 vaccinations a day and growing, targeting 100 million in 100 days isn't a huge improvement over where we already are.

I think yesterday was 1.6 M, so it's already going up.

Jaymann wrote: ↑Thu Jan 21, 2021 5:40 pm

El Guapo wrote: ↑Thu Jan 21, 2021 5:36 pm To be fair, given that we're already at ~ 900,000 vaccinations a day and growing, targeting 100 million in 100 days isn't a huge improvement over where we already are.

I think yesterday was 1.6 M, so it's already going up.

I'd be wary of using a single day, cause it could be attributable to reporting delays. The 7 day average has been around 800-900K per day.

btw, is it 100M shots, or 100M people (which could be 200M shots)?

I did laugh out loud just now, when a reporter (in some news roundtable) asked with a straight face: "Biden plans to have 1 million shots each day. Yesterday, the US had 1.6 million shots. Is Biden's goal of 1 million shots per day realistic?"

I always like the semiotics of the Oval Office, where every choice of decoration has meaning.

This WaPo article details the changes Biden has brought to the space. It's paywalled, but here are some details:

--FDR's portrait hangs above the fireplace, flanked by Washington, Lincoln, Jefferson and Hamilton (the later two because "the two men frequently disagreed and were placed together to illustrate the benefits that come from differing views")

--Trump's Andrew Jackson portrait has been replaced by Benjamin Franklin, which the Biden team says is a recognition of the importance of science to the American project. There's a moon rock on a shelf nearby.

--A bust of MLK Jr. has a prominent place, and there are also busts of Rosa Parks, Cesar Chavez, and Robert Kennedy, all of these signalling the importance of Civil Rights to Biden's view of the presidency.

--Biden has removed the four flags of the armed services (which Trump used to frame shots of himself at the desk).

--There is more at a non-paywalled discussion here.