To be fair over medicating, or rather over prescribing, is a genuine problem. Just, you know, not with Cancer as far as I’m aware.
Good topic, hilariously bad example there, Neera
Biden's Cabinet of Curiosities
- Thread starter Silvanus
- Start date
Good topic, hilariously bad example there, Neera
iirc she's making the argument so the hospitals save money. So even if that was the angle, it's not even the angle.
I hope she is taken out in the senate, I really do.
So who's vetting these picks?
www.politico.com
Goldman Sachs
PusH hIM LeFt!
Goldman Sachs vets quietly added to Biden transition
www.politico.com
Goldman Sachs
PusH hIM LeFt!
Last edited:
'Political Consolation Prize'? Biden Picks Buttigieg as Transportation Secretary Despite His Lack of Relevant Experience
"Uber and Lyft must be ecstatic. If you have a newfangled scheme to undermine workers by deploying the language of management consultants and futurism... Pete is the credulous mark you seek."
www.commondreams.org
Mayo Pete getting DOT despite having no qualifications over people who do have qualifications because he did a favor for Biden and he gets a cushy job for it.
Literally doesn't care about the post itself, just in it for the power.
Ah yes, the return to normalcy we all wanted. Literally the exact same nepotism, but blue flavored!
Initially read that with an r in there.
That won't work, the wealth will start overflowing the top glass before it goes through the siphon.
Um, in that picture, not in real life, I mean.
Man, Vect is really getting a workout isn’t he?'Political Consolation Prize'? Biden Picks Buttigieg as Transportation Secretary Despite His Lack of Relevant Experience
"Uber and Lyft must be ecstatic. If you have a newfangled scheme to undermine workers by deploying the language of management consultants and futurism... Pete is the credulous mark you seek."
Mayo Pete getting DOT despite having no qualifications over people who do have qualifications because he did a favor for Biden and he gets a cushy job for it.
Literally doesn't care about the post itself, just in it for the power.
View attachment 2061
Ah yes, the return to normalcy we all wanted. Literally the exact same nepotism, but blue flavored!
The ride never ends.
Doesn't it depend on whether the hose is filled with air or liquid? May need to poke a hole in the lid of the Panama Account, though.
Xavier Becca is Biden's only good pick change my mind.
Also, Biden's belief that Trump can do whatever executive order he wants while Biden can't because of the constitution is bullshit. It's a piece of paper with lots of good ideas and a lot of discarded bad ideas. In short a living breathing document.
The question is not whether it kills a norm or all norms are bad, the question is whether that norm is worth keeping. There are many norms we got rid of, for example, we use to take land from other countries to increase our own country's power that was a shit norm, and it was thrown away. Another norm we have is that when people get cancer they should go into debt, and beg other people on Gofundme, please give me money so my daughter can go to college, and I am not in debt is not a good norm, and not working since most Gofundmes don't work, but stupid fucking republicans are Lalala Lalala can't hear you, and the democrats are like well we can hear you, let's make sure a few more of you get healthcare
Fuck the media, fuck your friendships with the elite, you suppose to represent us, not the powerful. When FDR had a recession they didn't just say his hands were tied and fucked off. He did every single thing he could including trying to stacking judges not to increase his own power but to make sure more of his goals were achieved so that people didn't die on the streets.
Edit:
www.gq.com
Also, Biden's belief that Trump can do whatever executive order he wants while Biden can't because of the constitution is bullshit. It's a piece of paper with lots of good ideas and a lot of discarded bad ideas. In short a living breathing document.
The question is not whether it kills a norm or all norms are bad, the question is whether that norm is worth keeping. There are many norms we got rid of, for example, we use to take land from other countries to increase our own country's power that was a shit norm, and it was thrown away. Another norm we have is that when people get cancer they should go into debt, and beg other people on Gofundme, please give me money so my daughter can go to college, and I am not in debt is not a good norm, and not working since most Gofundmes don't work, but stupid fucking republicans are Lalala Lalala can't hear you, and the democrats are like well we can hear you, let's make sure a few more of you get healthcare
Fuck the media, fuck your friendships with the elite, you suppose to represent us, not the powerful. When FDR had a recession they didn't just say his hands were tied and fucked off. He did every single thing he could including trying to stacking judges not to increase his own power but to make sure more of his goals were achieved so that people didn't die on the streets.
Edit:
What the Medical GoFundMes That Don’t Get Funded Say About America
One third of the crowdfunding site’s campaigns are for medical expenses—and they don’t all reach their goal.
There's been quite a few more since I last looked;
* Interior Secretary: Deb Haaland. New Mexico Congresswoman & former chair of the NM Democratic Party. Environmental groups had been hoping for Haaland, who's got a good record on environmentalism & supports the Green New Deal. The Dept of the Interior is also concerned with land concerns related to the Native American tribes, and has historically got a fraught relationship with the tribes; Haaland will be the first Native American to lead it. From what I've read so far, progressives are quite happy with this pick.
* Secretary of Housing and Urban Development: Marcia Fudge. Former mayor of Warrensville Heights & Ohio Representative. The CBC applauds the pick here and credits her with opposing cuts to SNAP.
* Transportation Secretary: Pete Buttigieg. Former Mayor of South Bend & candidate for the Democratic Presidential nominee in 2020. With no Congressional experience, he would be one of the least experienced members of the cabinet. During the presidential campaign, he supported the Green New Deal (though not vociferously or consistently), and a public healthcare option.
* Energy Secretary: Jennifer Granholm. Former Attorney General of Michigan, & former Michigan Governor. As Governor, proposed & signed into law 'No Worker Left Behind', which paid for tuition or other courses for unemployed workers. Energy-wise, she's long been a proponent of alternative energy sources: she introduced a Renewable Portfolio Standard in Michigan requiring 25% of Michigan's energy to come from renewable sources by 2025. The years since the introduction of the RPS have seen significant expansion of renewable energy in Michigan, though the RPS is a good deal less ambitious than is frankly necessary. At least it was a start.
* US Trade Representative: Katherine Tai. A member of the Committee of Ways and Means since 2014 (& their chief trade counsel since 2017). Also another Obama administration alumnus, working with the Office of the Trade Representative. She's also an attorney, and successfully litigated at the WTO on behalf of the US, against China.
* Head of the EPA: Michael Regan. This is obviously one that progressives will be watching closely to see if Biden intends on keeping to his word. Regan worked in various positions within the non-profit Environmental Defence Fund for 8 years, then worked as Secretary of the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality since 2017. A plan he drew up for drastic reduction of private-sector emissions by 2030, and carbon neutrality in North Carolina by 2050, can be read here. In January of this year, the DEQ under Regan ordered the energy company Duke Energy to undergo the largest coal-ash cleanup in US history.
My thoughts on these: a lot more promising than the first few announcements we got, frankly. Particularly Haaland. It's great to see someone with genuine demonstrable environmental accomplishments (and extensive non-profit experience) lead the EPA. The actions undertaken by Granholm & Regan in the past aren't as ambitious as they need to be to avert a climate emergency... but they're a hell of a lot more positive than anything we've seen from the US Government so far. Feeling a bit more positive overall. Don't really care about Buttigieg, but then I don't really care about the Department of Transportation as much as the others either.
* Interior Secretary: Deb Haaland. New Mexico Congresswoman & former chair of the NM Democratic Party. Environmental groups had been hoping for Haaland, who's got a good record on environmentalism & supports the Green New Deal. The Dept of the Interior is also concerned with land concerns related to the Native American tribes, and has historically got a fraught relationship with the tribes; Haaland will be the first Native American to lead it. From what I've read so far, progressives are quite happy with this pick.
* Secretary of Housing and Urban Development: Marcia Fudge. Former mayor of Warrensville Heights & Ohio Representative. The CBC applauds the pick here and credits her with opposing cuts to SNAP.
* Transportation Secretary: Pete Buttigieg. Former Mayor of South Bend & candidate for the Democratic Presidential nominee in 2020. With no Congressional experience, he would be one of the least experienced members of the cabinet. During the presidential campaign, he supported the Green New Deal (though not vociferously or consistently), and a public healthcare option.
* Energy Secretary: Jennifer Granholm. Former Attorney General of Michigan, & former Michigan Governor. As Governor, proposed & signed into law 'No Worker Left Behind', which paid for tuition or other courses for unemployed workers. Energy-wise, she's long been a proponent of alternative energy sources: she introduced a Renewable Portfolio Standard in Michigan requiring 25% of Michigan's energy to come from renewable sources by 2025. The years since the introduction of the RPS have seen significant expansion of renewable energy in Michigan, though the RPS is a good deal less ambitious than is frankly necessary. At least it was a start.
* US Trade Representative: Katherine Tai. A member of the Committee of Ways and Means since 2014 (& their chief trade counsel since 2017). Also another Obama administration alumnus, working with the Office of the Trade Representative. She's also an attorney, and successfully litigated at the WTO on behalf of the US, against China.
* Head of the EPA: Michael Regan. This is obviously one that progressives will be watching closely to see if Biden intends on keeping to his word. Regan worked in various positions within the non-profit Environmental Defence Fund for 8 years, then worked as Secretary of the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality since 2017. A plan he drew up for drastic reduction of private-sector emissions by 2030, and carbon neutrality in North Carolina by 2050, can be read here. In January of this year, the DEQ under Regan ordered the energy company Duke Energy to undergo the largest coal-ash cleanup in US history.
My thoughts on these: a lot more promising than the first few announcements we got, frankly. Particularly Haaland. It's great to see someone with genuine demonstrable environmental accomplishments (and extensive non-profit experience) lead the EPA. The actions undertaken by Granholm & Regan in the past aren't as ambitious as they need to be to avert a climate emergency... but they're a hell of a lot more positive than anything we've seen from the US Government so far. Feeling a bit more positive overall. Don't really care about Buttigieg, but then I don't really care about the Department of Transportation as much as the others either.
I need to read up on some of the choices, but Deb seems like a good choice. The only other ones I can give a firm hard opinion on are Buttgeieg (fuck Pete Buttgieg, throw the craven asshole out please) and Marcia Fudge (A good person, but not for this, and the politics of why she's here are absolutely disgusting and atrocious, fuck Joe Biden).
Edit: Surface level searching of Granholm says she's worked for two super-pacs (one dubiously legal) antagonistic to progressives which is not the important bit, the important bit is she is (or at least was) a chair at DOW chemical
Edit: Katherine Tai is expected to push for the TPP.
Edit: Surface level searching of Granholm says she's worked for two super-pacs (one dubiously legal) antagonistic to progressives which is not the important bit, the important bit is she is (or at least was) a chair at DOW chemical
Edit: Katherine Tai is expected to push for the TPP.
Last edited:
Ah, true, I was assuming that the hose wasn't full of liquid yet and it wouldn't be until more was poured into the glass, but if it's coming out the other end already that wouldn't be the case and someone would have had to muck about with it before the picture. So, yeah, on second thought, picture still works.
Not chair: she was on the board of directors for 7 months, ending in October 2011.Edit: Surface level searching of Granholm says she's worked for two super-pacs (one dubiously legal) antagonistic to progressives which is not the important bit, the important bit is she is (or at least was) a chair at DOW chemical
There is an argument that having soulless but competent fixers is a positive.
Diversity and experts in the field they are presiding over can be beneficial, but at that sort of level what you most want are people who understand the system and other people, because their job is effectively one of managing processes and people. In much the same way that the world's best coder isn't necessarily the world's best software project manager because the manager isn't so much there to code as to maximise the output of a team of coders. All you need is to make sure that these soulless, competent fixers have a clear direction.
If this is about Buttgeig, I'll go back to my post from a couple days ago where he said...
Showing this for what it is, cashing in his Good Boy Points, and isn't actually interested in the job itself. A pick of nepotism. Being a fixer like that requires you to know who to listen to and what their angles are, something Pete has absolutely no knowledge of or care for. In short, he's probably just going to rubberstamp whatever corporate lobbyists put in front of him.
If it's about Fudge, that one is far worse in my mind. For the ideological creation of Joe Biden as the friend to black people, Fudge would be perfect. She's spent all her time in congress working on the agriculture boards and knows the USDA inside and out, who's important, how to get things done, everything you're saying here, and one of her biggest ideals is helping out SNAP (the foodstamp program that's controlled by the USDA and feeds the underprivileged across the country). She's basically been holding up a flashing neon sign to the eidolon Joe Biden to pick her for USDA as she caters to literally everyone ideologically except two parties. And unfortunately we don't have eidolon Joe Biden, we have dumbass corrupt Joe Biden.
Marcia Fudge was pushed into HUD, a position she knows nothing about and is thus in largely the same position as Pete, except she doesn't seem like she's a soulless ghoul. This was done to put Tom Vilsack into the USDA. He was there in the Obama administration where he was famous for shutting down black farmers and signing whatever Monsanto and it's friends wanted while actively ignoring any proposals that would benefit small farmers. And I mean that ignore literally, there are reports of him having something on his desk that might be at least moderately helpful and he purposefully put them at the bottom of his paper stacks to forget about.
Vilsack is so toxic that Jim Clyburn, the head of the congressional black caucus and general not-very-good person stepped forward to tell Biden it was a bad idea to put Vilsack there and Biden responded angrily with something along the lines of "if you think he's so bad, just look at his record!" with his record being the problem, of course. Now Vilsack isn't just an Obama alum that Biden's picking because he's old and senile and remembers the name, he's also a close and personal friend of Joe Biden and has been since the 80's, when Vilsack pulled for him in his first presidential bid, and they've been close ever since. Which is probably why Biden is defending him and giving him a job in the face of warnings from current relevant politicians.
Of course, since he pissed off the black caucus with the pick, he has to give them something, so he put Fudge in the HUD. To Biden it's a black person in the cabinet, and black people care about urban housing right? Who could complain!
Last edited:
* Secretary of Agriculture: Tom Vilsack. This is the same department Vilsack ran for 8 years under Obama (during which farm subsidies grew substantially), and is currently Chief Exec of the Dairy Export Council, which lobbies on behalf of the dairy/ farming industries. The dairy/farming industries are often seen as primary obstacles for environmental reform, so Vilsack's nomination hasn't been welcomed by environmentalists.
Some had been pushing for Marcia Fudge to run the USDA, due to her past work to protect SNAP.
* Leader of the Council of Environmental Quality: Brenda Mallory. Mallory's worked at the EPA, CEQ, and the Southern Environmental Law Center, and helped create the Climate21 Project, which delivered environmental recommendations to Biden's team.
* National Climate Advisor (a newly formed role): Gina McCarthy. Former head of the EPA, current president of the Natural Resources Defence Council, and a contributor to the Biden-Sanders Unity Task Force. It was McCarthy, at the EPA under Obama, who drew up the Clean Power Plan, which aimed to cut carbon pollution to 32% below 2005 levels, sulfur dioxide 90% below 2005 levels, and nitrogen oxide 72% below 2005 levels, by 2030. The Plan was blocked by the SCOTUS and then withdrawn by Trump's administration.
* Secretary of Veterans' Affairs: Denis McDonough. Former White House Chief of Staff under Obama.
Some had been pushing for Marcia Fudge to run the USDA, due to her past work to protect SNAP.
* Leader of the Council of Environmental Quality: Brenda Mallory. Mallory's worked at the EPA, CEQ, and the Southern Environmental Law Center, and helped create the Climate21 Project, which delivered environmental recommendations to Biden's team.
* National Climate Advisor (a newly formed role): Gina McCarthy. Former head of the EPA, current president of the Natural Resources Defence Council, and a contributor to the Biden-Sanders Unity Task Force. It was McCarthy, at the EPA under Obama, who drew up the Clean Power Plan, which aimed to cut carbon pollution to 32% below 2005 levels, sulfur dioxide 90% below 2005 levels, and nitrogen oxide 72% below 2005 levels, by 2030. The Plan was blocked by the SCOTUS and then withdrawn by Trump's administration.
* Secretary of Veterans' Affairs: Denis McDonough. Former White House Chief of Staff under Obama.
Last edited:
* Education Secretary: Miguel Cardona. Former Connecticut Commissioner of Education, and former teacher & school principal. He's been an advocate for kids to go back to in-person lessons, rather than continued virtual lessons.