The Biden Presidency Thread

[coopasonic]

The unwillingness to even consider that not every single unaccompanied child that made their way to the border, 11,000 in the last few weeks, according to CNN, not Fox, is doing so by their own free will is mind boggling.

If they are drug mules, we take the drugs. If they are being trafficked, they can tell the authorities so. In that regard I don't see how they are any different from adults. It's not like we are giving them a free pass because they are kids, otherwise there wouldn't be any kind of backlog to deal with. Let 'em on in!

[Isgrimnur]

San Antonio

More than 4 thousand children have been apprehended and while there are reports of undocumented minors being used as mules to cross drugs, the Assistant Special Agent of the DEA in the Texas Rio Grande Valley says they aren’t seeing that.

"What we're seeing right now is because of the influx of immigrants, we're seeing a diversion, where cartels are now utilizing the resources they have, as border patrol and other federal entities are integrated with the influx,” says Richard Sanchez, Assistant Special Agent DEA Rio Grande Valley.

Sanchez explains that with CBP resources being re-assigned to take care of unaccompanied children, that’s taking away from keeping as much of the contraband from being brought across and the surge of immigrants coming in has allowed the cartels to move their stockpiles of drugs on the Mexican side of the border, making their way into the U.S.

[Carpet_pissr]

Mexican children as drug mules/traffickers (trafficked?) is the new election fraud.

I FEEL IT'S TRUE, BUT THERE IS NO EVIDENCE INDICATING SUCH! But GODDAMN IT, WHY IS EVERYONE NOT OUTRAGED AT THIS IMAGINARY PROBLEM!?!?!?

FWIW I DO think the administration is wrong in not calling this a crisis if that's what it is. And yeah, this probably could have been handled better, but no idea how. FWIW this same crisis happened under Trump, and Obama, and....etc. It's not a Biden thing. It's an American border with Mexico thing, and it is cyclical.

I promise, if I see this administration doing something inappropriate or stupid, I will absolutely call it out.

[stimpy]

This is my quote:
"What do you do with kids from other countries that may be being used and sent here for nefarious reasons?"

You guys love to cherry pick something and run with it.
Is it so outrageous to think that some of the thousands and thousands of kids flowing over the border each day may not be all little smudged faced innocents looking for free US lollipops?
Either way, it's a fucking crisis and the Biden administration downplaying it as anything but is insulting.

[The Meal]

If someone knows a good insult, it's stimpy.

[malchior]

This is my quote:
"What do you do with kids from other countries that may be being used and sent here for nefarious reasons?"

You guys love to cherry pick something and run with it.
Is it so outrageous to think that some of the thousands and thousands of kids flowing over the border each day may not be all little smudged faced innocents looking for free US lollipops?
Either way, it's a fucking crisis and the Biden administration downplaying it as anything but is insulting.

Go look here in the immigration thread. It isn't a crisis. In reality, you're jumping at the shadows that the GOP is casting on the wall.

[Blackhawk]

Stimpy, you need to try harder. Maybe start with facts and statistics instead of "what ifs."

[hepcat]

What should we do about kids who are smuggled into the American heartland from planets orbiting a dying star, who might be coming here to one day become superheroes?

Krypton isn’t sending their best people when they shoot rockets at Earth. They’re sending thieves and rapists, sometimes even tyrannical generals who insist we kneel all the time. Although some, I assume, are good people.

[stimpy]

This is my quote:
"What do you do with kids from other countries that may be being used and sent here for nefarious reasons?"

You guys love to cherry pick something and run with it.
Is it so outrageous to think that some of the thousands and thousands of kids flowing over the border each day may not be all little smudged faced innocents looking for free US lollipops?
Either way, it's a fucking crisis and the Biden administration downplaying it as anything but is insulting.

Go look here in the immigration thread. It isn't a crisis. In reality, you're jumping at the shadows that the GOP is casting on the wall.

Oh, I'm sorry. It isnt a crisis. Nor is it a surge. Oh wait, that was the Washington Post 14 hours ago. This if from 8 hours ago:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics ... story.html

I guess it is now a surge
Next it will be a challenge.
Then it will become a inconvenience.
Then a situation.
Then a issue.
Then a anomaly.
Then a problem.
Then a stream.
Then a flow.
Then a upswing.
Then and only then it may, MAY become a crisis.

Fucking semantics.
What would you geniuses call it?

Ooooo....look.....a shadow.......

[$iljanus]

What should we do about kids who are smuggled into the American heartland from planets orbiting a dying star, who might be coming here to one day become superheroes?

After watching the epilogue of the Snyder Justice League cut I’m a bit worried about those kids...

[hepcat]

This is my quote:
"What do you do with kids from other countries that may be being used and sent here for nefarious reasons?"

You guys love to cherry pick something and run with it.
Is it so outrageous to think that some of the thousands and thousands of kids flowing over the border each day may not be all little smudged faced innocents looking for free US lollipops?
Either way, it's a fucking crisis and the Biden administration downplaying it as anything but is insulting.

Go look here in the immigration thread. It isn't a crisis. In reality, you're jumping at the shadows that the GOP is casting on the wall.

Oh, I'm sorry. It isnt a crisis. Nor is it a surge. Oh wait, that was the Washington Post 14 hours ago. This if from 8 hours ago:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics ... story.html

I guess it is now a surge
Next it will be a challenge.
Then it will become a inconvenience.
Then a situation.
Then a issue.
Then a anomaly.
Then a problem.
Then a stream.
Then a flow.
Then a upswing.
Then and only then it may, MAY become a crisis.

Fucking semantics.
What would you geniuses call it?

Ooooo....look.....a shadow.......

I would say you’re the one having a crisis. Sheesh, try not to burst a blood vessel, rage-man.

[stimpy]

Yep....that's me.
All ragey sitting here eating Fiddle Faddle, watching 90 day Fiance and watching you guys try to out smarm each other.
Good times, I tells ya....

[stimpy]

[Isgrimnur]

Your posting style is not conducive to generating a reasoned, rational discussion.

[stimpy]

Your posting style is not conducive to generating a reasoned, rational discussion.

Neither are a majority of the posters in this forum.
So what?
What's "my posting style"?
Anything that runs counterpoint to the hive mind here?

[Isgrimnur]

My opinion of your posting style is that it's histrionic and hyperbolic. Your initial posts do not deliver an indication so much as that you want to rant. You respond to any attempt at engagement with belittlement and insults. As such, you're not going to be met with responses that go to the heart of the issue that you are addressing.

So I and others are left with the impression that you are either bad at attempting to engage in policy discussions or merely trying to stir up a reaction. Regardless of the case, you come across as someone acting out in a public space, either to be avoided or removed.

[stimpy]

Oh....so sorry my style doesnt fit the requirements.
Please PM me the posting outline and I will study it until I get it right and fall in line.
Which subject would you like to have a reasoned, rational discussion about?
Krypton or GOP shadows?

P.s.
I aint going anywhere......

[Isgrimnur]

I'll fall back on my kneejerk response to this evening's festivities instead.

Fuck off, troll.

[stimpy]

I'll fall back on my kneejerk response to this evening's festivities instead.

Fuck off, troll.

Cmon now.....that response was neither reasoned or rational.
Tsk, tsk.

[Zarathud]

You guys love to cherry pick something and run with it.

Says someone who does way worse.

Either way, it's a fucking crisis and the Biden administration downplaying it as anything but is insulting.

So why do you expect Biden would have a magic solution stick for a decades-long problem just 2 months into his presidency? Particularly when you would complain if he did anything?

Your outlook on anything Biden is hysterical, stimpy. Not ha-ha funny, but more ewww creepy. You might need to see a doctor about it.

[stimpy]

You guys love to cherry pick something and run with it.

Says someone who does way worse.

Either way, it's a fucking crisis and the Biden administration downplaying it as anything but is insulting.

So why do you expect Biden would have a magic solution stick for a decades-long problem just 2 months into his presidency? Particularly when you would complain if he did anything?

Your outlook on anything Biden is hysterical, stimpy. Not ha-ha funny, but more ewww creepy. You might need to see a doctor about it.

I didnt say a solution. I said downplaying it.

And I'll ask my doctor about my creepy outlook right after he is done shaving the bunions off of my hairy troll feet.

[Zarathud]

Downplaying it? Of course Biden is not going to make as big deal about it as FOX News.

The alleged unwashed masses of immigrant children aren’t as high priority as a global pandemic, economic relief, or a hundred other disasters left by the Trump administration. There is only so much bandwidth, especially when dealing with i tractable and irrational Republican opposition.

Walking in the slime and you’ll need to do more than get bunions looked at. It’s toxic.

[Skinypupy]

If the Biden administration did change course tomorrow and give this the undivided attention that the stimpy's and Fox News' of the world demand, they would simply move the goalposts to ask why he wasn't paying enough attention to COIVD, or the economy, or taxes, or law & order, or "unity" (defined in GOP-land as giving them everything they want with no concessions whatsoever), or something else. There is no winning play with conservatives, since the majority of their OUTRAGE!! is either wildly misinformed or simply performative.

While I'm not fully on board to the overall approach to the "border crisis" so far, it's also far from the most pressing issue at the moment.

[Kraken]

I'm not watching Biden's every move with bated breath, but from here in the cheap seats he hasn't fucked anything up yet and appears to be working hard to fix things that are already fucked up.

Immigration is in that second category. What did he do that he shouldn't have, or what shouldn't he have done that he did?

Oh....so sorry my style doesnt fit the requirements.
Please PM me the posting outline and I will study it until I get it right and fall in line.

For starters, if you're going to advance an unpopular opinion, start by building an argument and supporting it. If you're good you might even convince someone. I'm always in play.

[Paingod]

I'm not watching Biden's every move with bated breath, but from here in the cheap seats he hasn't fucked anything up yet and appears to be working hard to fix things that are already fucked up.

I tried to search for how many days he's spent golfing so far but couldn't find a number. Maybe he's doing online poker tournaments or something?

I agree that it feels like he's working, and harder than we've seen anyone in that office for the last four years. He hasn't done anything yet that I'd take offense to, but that may be because he's not openly racist and starting every staff meeting with a sycophantic boot-licking ceremony (or, if they do, no one's released a video like Florida Man did). "Oh, Mr. Florida Man, the sun shines out of your ass when you belch your grandiosity onto my desk in the morning. Please illuminate us!" It was disgusting to watch.

[Carpet_pissr]

This is my quote:
"What do you do with kids from other countries that may be being used and sent here for nefarious reasons?"

What do you do with a general election that MAY have been rife with voter fraud?

Can you please show even a shred of evidence or indication other than Fox News ranting that would lead a rational person to think this is an actual problem?

Same with the voter fraud assumptions while you’re at it. I’ll wait.

[malchior]

I'm not watching Biden's every move with bated breath, but from here in the cheap seats he hasn't fucked anything up yet and appears to be working hard to fix things that are already fucked up.

I tried to search for how many days he's spent golfing so far but couldn't find a number. Maybe he's doing online poker tournaments or something?

I agree that it feels like he's working, and harder than we've seen anyone in that office for the last four years. He hasn't done anything yet that I'd take offense to, but that may be because he's not openly racist and starting every staff meeting with a sycophantic boot-licking ceremony (or, if they do, no one's released a video like Florida Man did). "Oh, Mr. Florida Man, the sun shines out of your ass when you belch your grandiosity onto my desk in the morning. Please illuminate us!" It was disgusting to watch.

There is also the consideration that fundamentally something changed in Biden and he prefers to be a bit opaque. Not in a nefarious way. The administration is communicating plans with the public. Instead, the key difference is we are used to Presidents very much at the center of things. Trump had a bottomless pit that couldn't be filled that craved attention and even Obama basked in the spotlight somewhat. The downside to that reticence to engage publicly is that the 24/7 news cycle will fill the air time with alternative "facts" driven by seditionist bluster. It is a challenge he may face for some time unless they can get the mix right.

[LordMortis]

It seems to me Biden is on TV nearly every day. Not a press secretary. Not a DoJ rep. I don't remember this must presence from any other president. Maybe it's because I'm working at home most of the time and the TV keeps me company but this a president more at the center of things than I can ever remember. I try not bring up he predecessor as he is done and I would like to move on against not having another one of him but in this case, the contrast is so huge because the last president rarely gave addresses and hand picked his ever shrinking moments to talk to the press or public. He hid his presence behind critical tweets as if the office of the executive was happening to him instead of by him.

[malchior]

It seems to me Biden is on TV nearly every day. Not a press secretary. Not a DoJ rep. I don't remember this must presence from any other president. Maybe it's because I'm working at home most of the time and the TV keeps me company but this a president more at the center of things than I can ever remember.

I see a key difference. They are covering him endlessly as he is moving around so we are seeing him. I still believe it is still less than Trump. Trump would often go outside and ramble to the press at length. That's the big difference. Biden isn't directly *communicating* with the public like Obama and Trump did.

[Zarathud]

Exactly what a competent person wants to do — get the job done rather than grandstanding. Biden will talk about an issue or policy rather than himself.

[malchior]

Exactly what a competent person wants to do — get the job done rather than grandstanding. Biden will talk about an issue or policy rather than himself.

Right. The trick is a balance. If you are too 'quiet' the other side will jam you up with their grandstanding. Hence, Biden's administration is now wasting bandwidth scrambling to cover an overblown immigration crisis. This isn't a criticism - all administrations need to adjust to their political realities.

[Defiant]

It looks like they've back off the threat, but this was really dumb:

Sens. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) and Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) say they will vote against President Biden's nominees amid frustration over the lack of Asian American and Pacific Islander representation and broader concerns about diversity in his Cabinet.

While most of Biden's core Cabinet picks have already been confirmed, the opposition could be a significant hurdle to getting additional executive or judicial branch nominations through the 50-50 Senate, where the support of every Democrat is needed if Republicans line up against a nominee.

Duckworth first told reporters on Tuesday that she had informed the White House she would oppose any "non-diversity" nominees until she gets a commitment from the executive branch for more high-ranking Asian American nominations.

"I am a 'no' vote, on the floor, on all non-diversity nominees. ... I will vote for racial minorities and LGBTQ but anybody else, I'm not voting for," said Duckworth, who is one of two Asian American senators.

https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/544 ... y-concerns

I'm all for more diversity, but it shouldn't be the number one concern, to the extent that you'll oppose any non-diverse nominees. Competency should be the number one concern, and this action sends the message that you care less about competency than you do about diversity.

[$iljanus]

It looks like they've back off the threat, but this was really dumb:

Sens. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) and Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) say they will vote against President Biden's nominees amid frustration over the lack of Asian American and Pacific Islander representation and broader concerns about diversity in his Cabinet.

While most of Biden's core Cabinet picks have already been confirmed, the opposition could be a significant hurdle to getting additional executive or judicial branch nominations through the 50-50 Senate, where the support of every Democrat is needed if Republicans line up against a nominee.

Duckworth first told reporters on Tuesday that she had informed the White House she would oppose any "non-diversity" nominees until she gets a commitment from the executive branch for more high-ranking Asian American nominations.

"I am a 'no' vote, on the floor, on all non-diversity nominees. ... I will vote for racial minorities and LGBTQ but anybody else, I'm not voting for," said Duckworth, who is one of two Asian American senators.

https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/544 ... y-concerns

I'm all for more diversity, but it shouldn't be the number one concern, to the extent that you'll oppose any non-diverse nominees. Competency should be the number one concern, and this action sends the message that you care less about competency than you do about diversity.

If I may say, perhaps the two things can go hand in hand and there is a diverse candidate out there who is also competent? And perhaps it's time that a bit of extra effort is needed to find that person after so many years of just settling for the same old faces? I really understand where you're coming from but too often for me, people (and I'm not assuming you) are quick to think that the diverse candidate is not necessarily the most qualified person but was chosen due to their race, orientation, gender, etc. You really can have a person that represents more of the population and can do a great job at it too. I'd like to see more Asian officials in government but I don't think we're going to settle for someone at the competency level of an Asian-American Ben Carson.

[Defiant]

If I may say, perhaps the two things can go hand in hand and there is a diverse candidate out there who is also competent? And perhaps it's time that a bit of extra effort is needed to find that person after so many years of just settling for the same old faces? I really understand where you're coming from but too often for me, people (and I'm not assuming you) are quick to think that the diverse candidate is not necessarily the most qualified person but was chosen due to their race, orientation, gender, etc. You really can have a person that represents more of the population and can do a great job at it too.

Sure there are probably diverse candidates out there.

But suggesting that your number one concern is diversity implies that competency isn't.

And I don't like the idea that someone will automatically be a no vote, before you've even looked at/questioned them, based on their race/orientation/gender, etc.

[Ralph-Wiggum]

Isn't Biden's cabinet already one of the most diverse ever? I'm all for increasing diversity whenever possible, but seems like this might be the wrong thing to be attacking the administration for.

[Paingod]

But suggesting that your number one concern is diversity implies that competency isn't.

Diversity itself can lend to competency by adding a perspective that was missing or underrepresented.

I agree that it shouldn't be the only qualification, but a very diverse group will come to different conclusions and come up with broader answers than a selection of old white people.

[Jaymann]

Jeez, the next thing they will want is for him to endorse an Asian-Black woman. Oh, wait...

[Defiant]

But suggesting that your number one concern is diversity implies that competency isn't.

Diversity itself can lend to competency by adding a perspective that was missing or underrepresented.

I agree that it shouldn't be the only qualification, but a very diverse group will come to different conclusions and come up with broader answers than a selection of old white people.

Sure. And that's one of the reasons I want a diverse cabinet.

But I wouldn't suggest that diversity overrides their resume and competency. And I certainly wouldn't do it publicly, where it will, predictably, be attacked by the right as "Radical Democrats/Biden don't care about qualifications they just care about diversity".

Biden has proven himself willing to listen - privately talking to him or even privately putting pressure on him would be a far smarter way of approaching this.

[stessier]

Biden has proven himself willing to listen - privately talking to him or even privately putting pressure on him would be a far smarter way of approaching this.

It's possible this has already been tried and failed.

[$iljanus]

I just want to reiterate that just because we want more diversity doesn't mean we want someone who's underqualified but should be in the position for the sake of diversity. Minority folks also like smart people who know how to do their jobs. It's sometimes a bit frustrating that we have to throw in that qualifier every time there's a call for a bit more representation.