For there is always light. Thread #123 is belong to President Biden

[PerkingFaintly]

"For there is always light
If only we're brave enough to see it
If only we're brave enough to be it."

— Amanda Gorman, 20 Jan 2021, inauguration of President Joe R Biden

Moving on from the Trump threads, last one here:

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/4141056-Its-officially-time-to-say-ta-ta-to-Trump-its-inauguration-day-trump-122

So much for his speech about unifying people bahahahaah what a sell out

Takes buying a replacement goldfish cos you don't want your DC to feel sad, to a whole new level, Rousette.

@Roussette

Here is the latest QAnon/cult followers theory. Try not to laugh...

That is amazing 🤣

Well Biden is in, so no more blaming it on trump, everything from now on is down to him.

Pitch-perfect speech, sober yet hopeful, quietly stirring, strong, authoritative yet relatable

I agree Intermittent.

Here is the whole speech with annotations on it picking up on various key pieces.

www.washingtonpost.com/politics/interactive/2021/01/20/biden-inauguration-speech/

I know that MN is madly anti-trans (and I have a trans man living in my household, so I am very not on board with that), but the executive order people are referring to on here is also very much about protecting people against discrimination. Preventing gay people from being discriminated against when accessing healthcare, housing etc. seems to me to be a pretty good idea. This particular order may have aspects that are hard for the MN community to accept, but even then it isn't all bad.

I think there is plenty we can blame on Trump for a while to come, like the non existent vaccination plan which is unbelievably awful.

NO PLAN to prevent Americans dying, that needs to sink in.
Trump gave up on Covid months ago.

@pointythings

I know that MN is madly anti-trans (and I have a trans man living in my household, so I am very not on board with that), but the executive order people are referring to on here is also very much about protecting people against discrimination. Preventing gay people from being discriminated against when accessing healthcare, housing etc. seems to me to be a pretty good idea. This particular order may have aspects that are hard for the MN community to accept, but even then it isn't all bad.

Agreed.

And that conspiracy is something else. There has to be a TV show in that somewhere, just needs the script writing.

cycling if you had any decency, you'd allow some time for the scale of the damage done by Trump to be assessed. The COVID situation is an example of that: Biden is going to struggle to combat the virus because of the utter failure of the Trump administration to address it properly when it emerged. So it's going to take him longer than it would have done had Trump acted sensibly.

But of course you'll just leap on the opportunity to tell us that hey, Biden is a failure.

If it is true that there was no proper vaccination strategy by the former administration that is shocking although we shouldn’t be surprised.

The Covid memorial on Tuesday was a needed national recognition of the dead and the struggle that continues.

I would like to think that Trump and his administration did recognise and pay respect to the dead in ways other than just as passing reference in speeches even if not in such a big way as Tuesday. Perhaps these occasions were overlooked by the biased MSM and perhaps posters like cyclingmad or dongdingdong can provide evidence of a more balanced account?

@maggiethecat

If it is true that there was no proper vaccination strategy by the former administration that is shocking although we shouldn’t be surprised.

The Covid memorial on Tuesday was a needed national recognition of the dead and the struggle that continues.

I would like to think that Trump and his administration did recognise and pay respect to the dead in ways other than just as passing reference in speeches even if not in such a big way as Tuesday. Perhaps these occasions were overlooked by the biased MSM and perhaps posters like cyclingmad or dongdingdong can provide evidence of a more balanced account?

It is true there wasn't, and never would have been, a federal level vaccination strategy beyond distribution of the vaccine from federal supplies -- and even that was bollocksed up beyond belief as states did not receive full orders and a "stockpile" for second doses that was hinted at turned out not to be a stockpile, but a prediction of future production capacity. Not quite the same thing, and the "bait and switch" caused issues in states that expanded vaccine eligibility based on receiving actual vaccines, not the promise of future ones. I'm still not entirely convinced my appointment tomorrow will happen, in light of the number of vaccines which were actually received by the state.

States are handing their own vaccination strategies -- some better than others.

@pointythings

I know that MN is madly anti-trans (and I have a trans man living in my household, so I am very not on board with that), but the executive order people are referring to on here is also very much about protecting people against discrimination. Preventing gay people from being discriminated against when accessing healthcare, housing etc. seems to me to be a pretty good idea. This particular order may have aspects that are hard for the MN community to accept, but even then it isn't all bad.

I dont think it's anti-trans (I certainly am not) but it is pro-women. Those two things are not the same.

I absolutely get behind any legislation that protects people regardless of their sexual orientation or presentation.

There are 2 different strands to "trans rights" in my view

• the gender dysphoric child who needs protection and support
• the adult male transitioner ; in my view, many (not all) use gender legislation as a cover for attacking women as a group.

I am disappointed that this is one of Biden's first actions, but I rely on common sense winning out (it just seems like this will be in the looong term).

Preventing gay people from being discriminated against when accessing healthcare, housing etc. seems to me to be a pretty good idea.

Yes, in the UK the EA has done that since 2010 and also protects trans people.

However, it also recognises that if you simply declare everyone equal, and don't recognise that different groups have specific needs that must be met to achieve equality, you enable discrimination.

MN is not anti trans. It just contains a large number of posters who have been disabused of the idea that sex has no consequences. Given the name and purpose of the site, this is not surprising.

I like this from Biden's new look office

The portrait of another former president, Thomas Jefferson, has been paired with a man he frequently disagreed with, his former Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton as "hallmarks of how differences of opinion, expressed within the guardrails of the Republic, are essential to democracy", the Post quotes Biden's office as saying.

@pointythings

I know that MN is madly anti-trans (and I have a trans man living in my household, so I am very not on board with that), but the executive order people are referring to on here is also very much about protecting people against discrimination. Preventing gay people from being discriminated against when accessing healthcare, housing etc. seems to me to be a pretty good idea. This particular order may have aspects that are hard for the MN community to accept, but even then it isn't all bad.

I don't think Mumsnet is anti trans, I've never seen anyone state that they don't want trans people to be treated with dignity and respect.

Any law though, that allows natal males to identify as women without checks and measures is a risk to women. It removes safe spaces and access to sport. The wholesale removal of a woman's right to compete in single sex sport is extremely problematic.

Yes I saw that point about the portraits, Duncin!

Quite.

[quote NotaRealLawyer]QAnon conspiracy theorists grapple with anger and confusion after Biden inauguration
www.chicagotribune.com/nation-world/ct-nw-qanon-biden-inauguration-20210121-ekw3zi6krjeirjkzqpgk7ceorm-story.html[/quote]
That's just as sad as it is scary.
Brainwashed

Good luck for your appointment tomorrow, gwenneh.

I also expect legal challenges to come in time to that particular executive order.

But at least that will throw some daylight onto the issue.

I suspect that this executive order was at least in part a way of appeasing the progressive wing of the Democrat Party, led by Bernie Sanders, who gave Biden their backing for the Presidential election. They hadn't given their backing to Hillary Clinton, which was one important reason why she didn't win against Trump in 2016.

I tend to agree that Biden will have too much to contend with in dealing with the pandemic to do much about implementing that order for some time to come.

I do agree, though, that it's problematic and will be challenged in the courts.

@PerkingFaintly

Good luck for your appointment tomorrow, gwenneh.

Thanks -- they've just called to confirm it so it looks like it's really going to happen.

Now I'm frantically refreshing the pages of three counties and two different healthcare systems to try to get appointments for my parents.

@cyclingmad

Well Biden is in, so no more blaming it on trump, everything from now on is down to him.

Well that will make a change won’t it. I don’t think Trump accepted responsibility for any of the mistakes, cockups, disasters and faux pas he made during his tenure. After four years of not me cookie jar politics, it is refreshing to know that someone with moral stature is sitting behind the big desk.

Biden's top priorities are

• COVID
• Climate change
• race
• healthcare
• the economy

I loathe the concept of Self ID and regard trans men in women' s sport as cheats BUT the other Executive orders signed yesterday are the ones to focus on. And they are good.

Lovely clip on the BBC news page, Kamala reading notice of her own resignation. She has a fabulous laugh.

Actually, reading the full executive order on preventing and combating discrimination, I think it seems quite broad, and open to interpretation.

www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2021/01/20/executive-order-preventing-and-combating-discrimination-on-basis-of-gender-identity-or-sexual-orientation/

Children should be able to learn without worrying about whether they will be denied access to the restroom, the locker room, or school sports.

Agree - but I also think this also means allowing single sex facilities.

"the Supreme Court held that Title VII’s prohibition on discrimination “because of . . . sex” covers discrimination on the basis of gender identity and sexual orientation."

Agree or disagree this is just re-iterating what the Supreme Court held.

However, I don't know enough about US law to understand the impact of EOs.

Merrymouse
The Key sentence is this one
It is also the policy of my Administration to address overlapping forms of discrimination
I think some of the TRAs are in for a shock if they think an old white guy appealing to middle America will roll over for them