Hello Readers,
Congratulations to Joseph R. Biden, our 46th President of the United States of America and Kamala D. Harris, the first Madam Vice President of the United States of America. Biden has one good thing in mind, and that is unity. He spoke well before a moment of silence for unity and about our future. However, he has not mentioned how he will implement that unity. He talked about unity, and at the same time he talked about white supremacists, but did not mention Antifa. Also, he did not mention about how he, the head of the Democratic Party, and his colleagues will pursue impeachment proceedings against Donald Trump, or if they should just let it go.
Biden talked about how everyone is equal and how he will treat everyone equally, but he will have an uphill battle in achieving his goals. Even within the party, leftists like Bernie Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez team want some progressive members to be included in the Cabinet. Biden offered a post to Sanders, but Sanders did not accept it. So far, Biden has picked a nice team, but he forgot some of those who helped him to be president.
People were thinking that Stacey Abrams would be included. However, Abrams may want to jump into the next gubernatorial election in 2022. She has lost to Brian Kemp by about 55,000 votes (Kemp 1,978,408 vs. Abrams 1,923,685) in 2018. In a republican state, the way Abrams ran her campaign, she deserves to win the next election.
It is a new beginning. New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy rightly said, “Now here we are, preparing to watch these two extraordinary leaders take office and start bringing our country together and into a brighter future.”
On the very first day Biden sought to sign 17 executive orders.
- A 100 day masking request during his first 100 days (very good).
- Rejoining the World Health Organization (very good).
- Created a COVID-19 response Coordinator Position (very good).
- Extending the eviction and foreclosure moratorium until March 31 (very good).
- Extending the pause on interest and principal payments for direct federal loans until at least Sept. 30 (Okay, but it will not reduce the students’ debt, but instead increase the interest for another 9 months).
- Rejoining the Paris Agreement on Climate Change (good).
- Revoking the Keystone XL pipeline permit (not good, as prices of oil will go higher).
- A Racial Equity law, reversing Trump’s 1776 Commission (very good).
- Inclusion of non-citizens in the census and apportionment (as long as they are green cardholders, it’s good).
- Halting construction of the border wall by terminating the national emergency declaration used to fund it (not good).
- Preventing workplace discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity, (very good).
- Fortifying DACA after Trump’s efforts to undo protections for undocumented people brought into the country as children (very good).
- Reversing the Trump administration’s restrictions on US entry for passport holders from seven Muslim-majority countries (good).
- Undoing Trump’s expansion of immigration enforcement within the United States (not good).
- Directing the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) director to develop recommendations to modernize regulatory review and undoing Trump’s regulatory approval process. (it might be good).
- Extending deferrals of deportation and work authorizations for Liberians with a safe haven in the United States until June 30, 2022 (good).
- Requiring Executive Branch appointees to sign an ethics pledge barring them from acting in personal interest and requiring them to uphold the independence of the Department of Justice (very good).
A Californian man (Indian American), Aditya Udai Singh, 33 who was “scared to go home because of Covid” lived undetected in Chicago’s O’Hare Airport for three months, according to multiple reports. This shows how bad our security is; a person was able to stay day and night for 3 months in a sensitive security area like an airport. He was finally detected when two employees asked for his ID.
Have a wonderful week. I’ll talk to you next week.
