The Biden Administration

[LFC]

Republicans handed Joe an effective hammer and he's using it.

Biden Takes It To Republicans On Social Security

Fresh off his ad-libbed State of the Union attacks on congressional Republicans for wanting to eliminate Social Security, President Biden heads to Tampa for an event focused on Social Security and Medicaid.

Wednesday, Biden was in Wisconsin, hammering by name Republicans who have touted eliminating or severely reigning in Social Security: Sens. Ron Johnson (R-WI), Mike Lee (R-UT), and Rick Scott (R-FL).

The press coverage of Social Security still suffers from a lack of familiarity with how the program works. Many reporters are also bamboozled by Republican word games around Social Security “reform.” They feel perfectly comfortable saying Republicans oppose abortion, but they retreat to “Democrats claim Republicans oppose Social Security” because the GOP has disguised its intentions. But dismantling Social Security and Medicare has been an animating Republican policy position for at least as long as its well-documented opposition to abortion rights. Just say it.

[goldenvalley]

Feb 9, 2023 4:56:18 GMT AnBr said:

Feb 8, 2023 15:19:18 GMT LFC said:

Qevin had a boo-boo face when he realized Biden used his team's Howler Monkey antics against them.

View Attachment

Almost have to wonder if someone punked her into wearing the white fur to make the image more complete.

I think she wore it quite intentionally because it made her stand out in a sea of navy blue suits.  Same with Sinema in yellow '80's bridesmaid dress.   MTG is no fool when it comes to getting attention.  She, like Trump, have an inborn instinctive understanding of that.

[LFC]

Still scraping Trump's shit from the government's shoes. This is another one of Trump's "best people."

President Biden fired the Architect of the Capitol on Monday in a brief, terse letter, bringing an end to the career of a Trump appointee that was mostly illustrious for its vibrant allegations of wrongdoing.

Trump nominated J. Brett Blanton to the position in December 2019.

Since then, Blanton has picked up criticism for refusing to come near the building on January 6, allegedly impersonating a police officer, allegedly misusing his government car, and apparently dissembling when questioned about it by lawmakers.

Blanton’s behavior resulted in bipartisan condemnation; even though he was Trump’s man, the allegations around his tenure appear to have been so egregious that House Republicans began to push for his ouster last week. Biden fired Blanton after Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) tweeted earlier on Monday that he did not have confidence in the architect.

The Architect of the Capitol, Brett Blanton, no longer has my confidence to continue in his job. He should resign or President Biden should remove him immediately.
— Kevin McCarthy (@speakermccarthy) February 13, 2023

Architect of the Capitol is an odd position in that it oversees the seat of the legislative branch, but is appointed by the President. The position itself comes with some responsibility including a seat on the Capitol Police board.

It also comes with some privileges, like a government car, with which, according to an inspector general report released in October 2022, Blanton went hog wild.

The inspector general opened its investigation after receiving a tip that two people were speeding in a black Ford Explorer owned by the Office of the Architect of the Capitol through a Walmart parking lot in Northern Virginia, traveling at around 65 mph in a 30 mph zone.

“The complainant claimed the driver made obscene gestures toward them while at the stop sign outside the parking garage,” the report reads. “The OIG later identified the driver and passenger to be the daughters of Mr. James Brett Blanton, SR-00, Architect of the Capitol.”

The report also found that Blanton and his family allegedly used three government cars for personal reasons, including vacations to South Carolina and Florida.

In one incident described in the report, Blanton used his government-owned Jeep Grand Cherokee to chase down a driver who hit a car belonging to Blanton’s daughter’s boyfriend. After purportedly “activating emergency equipment” on the car and reaching the driver, Blanton allegedly falsely identified himself as an “off-duty DC police officer.”

Blanton purportedly appeared at pre-trial hearings in the matter under that persona.

[goldenvalley]

Feb 14, 2023 14:18:10 GMT LFC said:

Still scraping Trump's shit from the government's shoes. This is another one of Trump's "best people."

Where did Trump find these grifters? Is there a binder of them somewhere like what the Federalist Society has for judicial appointments?

[pnwguy]

Romney had binders of women. Trump had binders of fellow grifters and white collar criminals.

[AnBr]

pnwguy beat me to it.

[LFC]

There was an entire network for crooks and grifters ready to take advantage of Trump. He was so clueless that he just let them do the work, same way as he completely delegated the selection of unqualified, partisan hack judicial nominees to the Federalist Society.

[LFC]

Two Years, 10 Metrics: Assessing Biden’s Presidency

Bloomberg Opinion considers the strengths and weaknesses of Joe Biden’s first two years in office and what they suggest about the next two.