Cabbage News Network Week #206

[kmusser]

The final week!

Monday 1/18

• There is no vaccine reserve, everything available has already been shipped (source).
  
• Pompeo lifts restrictions on recognizing Taiwanese officials, likely to upset China (source).
  
• DJT planning a ton of pardons for his last day (source).
  
• FBI is screening national guard troops (source).
  
• Census director quits (source).

Tuesday 1/19

• National guard vetting catches two (source).
  
• Senate begins Biden cabinet confirmation hearings (source).
  
• National memorial for the 400,000 Covid-19 deaths planned for this evening (source).
  
• White House releases "1776 report" which argues for rewriting American history, no basis on actual history required (source).
  
• Administration rushes Alaska wildlife refuge sales through on last day (source).
  
• DJT also doing a whole pile of last minute executive orders, which for the most part will be ignored (source).
  
• Administration labels Yemeni Houthis a terrorist organization, which will limit humanitarian aid to Yemen (source).
  
• Pompeo labels China's treatment of Uighurs as genocide (source).
  
• Court blocks rollback of power plant air pollution regulations (source).

Wednesday 1/20

• Happy Inauguration Day!
  
• DJT leaves the White House! (source).
  
• DJT removes ban on his staff becoming lobbyists (source).
  
• DJT arranges for extended Secret Service protection for his family (source).
  
• Long list of pardons, including Steve Bannon, is DJT's last act (source).
  
• China issues sanctions against most of DJT's inner circle (source).
  
• Dem control of the Senate goes into effect (source).
  
• Biden's first executive orders (source).
  

And now my watch has ended. It's been a crazy four years. DJT has done a lot of damage, but I feel that our democracy has survived it. I wasn't at all sure that this transition of power would happen. The future is still uneasy. I feel DJT was limited by his own incompetence, but his term revealed a lot of cracks in the system and a lot on unpleasantness about some of my fellow Americans. I feel that someone in the same mold but more capable could go full dictator. Biden has his work cut out for him, and some of DJT's damage will be hard to undo and the GOP will be trying to block him every step of the way. I expect most policy type things to be quickly reversed. Unfortunately the stacking of the courts we're going to live with for a generation. The assault on the environment has been partially blocked by the courts, but the pure number of changes there, it'll be hard to catch them all. Regaining International trust on the world stage will be difficult. The government inflicted trauma on immigrant children can't be undone. And taking the pandemic seriously will come too late for 400,000 Americans. But I feel we've turned a corner and here's hoping things improve.

Should I continue these news reports? I've kept the focus pretty narrow: actions by the DJT administration. The logical follow-up would be looking at actions by the Biden administration, but I could change focus if there is interest. Or I could give it a rest.

Comments

[marahmarie]

*expresses interest*

You said it yourself that (to paraphrase) with just slightly more brains and smoothness he could've been dictator (ahem, for life). We can't let something like him happen again - but the only way to guard against that is to...stay on guard, both against the opposition and as to what Biden et al is doing to reverse his actions and to keep as many of them as possible from happening again, and to improve what can be improved all around.

It's only two short years until Dems stand to lose both houses again as razor thin majorities hold the line for now. Two short years will fly by faster than anyone thinks and if we don't keep looking out for what's heading our way down the long road ahead of us we risk being blindsided.

[damont]

You said it yourself that (to paraphrase) with just slightly more brains and smoothness he could've been dictator (ahem, for life).

See also: Nehemiah Scudder, from Heinlein's Future History series.

[marahmarie]

Now is not the time to be complacent.

[selki]

Thanks for your news reports these past years! I'll keep reading your roundups if you post them, but totally understandable if you want to give it a rest. I can count on one of my nieces to point out every insufficiently leftist things Biden does. :-)

[tirani]

I would be totally down if you wanted to cover the continuing downfall of Trump, and his meddling with the GOP, and hopefully charges galore in the not too distant future from various agencies. (Gods I hope he starts his own party and splits the GOP, the Dems would own everything for at least a decade, and we could push the Overton window left again.)

That said, if you need a break, take one! I've been so happy to more map posts again.