I say YES. YOU say NO....Numero Tre! Enjoy!
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I went back & wrote down everyone who said they'd be interested in Zooming this Saturday. If I missed you, or you haven't replied but would like to try it, please respond by Friday (exbrnxgrl, are you going to PM the link to people then?).
IllinoisLady
Miriandra
ChiSandy
Beavernix
kad2kar
YeslamaDragon
Chardel2
ruthbru
MinusTwo
octogirl
DivineMrsM
nowaldron
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Ruth, I won’t be home this Saturday for the Zoom call, so I will try to join the next time.
Jackie, you, me and literally about 80 million other people in the U.S. have all begun sleeping better due to those “50 things that are better already.” What a great list! I bet blood pressure and stress levels have decreased, too!
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Yes, I will pm the link this afternoon. Crazy time at work we as we get ready to welcome students back on 2/22!
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In Biden's White House, surprise visits with staff replace late-night tweets
Trump preferred seemingly aimless days at the White House. Biden has a carefully crafted schedule, but the pandemic has curbed his facetime with people.
Politico 02/03/2021
Since he moved in two weeks ago, Joe Biden has taken to strolling around the White House.
He's popped into the press offices. He's walked to the East Wing to visit the military office, which handles everything from food service to presidential transportation. And on the day the Senate confirmed his secretary of State, he stopped by the office of Antony Blinken's wife, White House Cabinet Secretary Evan Ryan, to congratulate their family.
Biden has long relished engaging in person — with aides, policy experts, local officials, members of Congress, everyday Americans, you name it — and being sworn in as president hasn't changed that, according to four people familiar with how he operates. If anything, his desire to visit with staff has only increased as coronavirus precautions have curtailed White House visits and travel around the country.
"Think about how hard this year has been for someone who loves engaging with people," said Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.), a longtime Biden friend. "He loves to be able to read their expressions, their responses, their intonation."
Biden's outgoing nature is one of the clearest ways in which his presidency seems destined to be different from the man he served: Barack Obama, who infamously didn't care for the schmoozing elements of politics. Biden is more like his predecessor, Donald Trump, in that way. But his thirst for human interaction has not translated into the kind of haphazard exchanges that characterized Trump's four years in the White House. Biden's West Wing is already far more disciplined than Trump's ever was, especially when it comes to access to the president.
While Trump would call friends and allies seemingly at random, Biden has a list of phone calls scheduled for him. While Trump didn't mind aides and outside allies wandering into the Oval Office, Biden has a handful of gatekeepers who control access to the room. While Trump would sometimes spend days tweeting and watching television, Biden fills his day with policy memos, virtual meetings with outside experts and, of course, visiting staff around the building.
In short, the 46th president prefers a more traditional style, one he hopes will help return the office to the way it was and the way he thinks it should be.
"This is returning to normal use of the president's time," said Terry Sullivan, the executive director of the White House Transition Project, which studies how presidents spend their time. "We know when Trump spent all this time writing tweets and scheduling his own meetings he was frittering away his opportunities to lead ... If you're Biden, you're asking yourself 'do I really want to spend time trying to line up meetings or do I want to lead on legislation and national security?' The answer to that is pretty obvious."
Trump would often bristle when any of his four successive chiefs of staff tried to organize his time and control who could walk into the Oval Office. "When you think of President Trump, you think of a movie mogul working the phones having people pop in and out of his office and saying 'hey, get Joe on the phone,'" said Trump ally Matt Schlapp, chairman of the American Conservative Union, whose wife worked for the president.
Those days are over. Biden has a schedule crafted largely by a trio of gatekeepers who have been with him for years, according to three people familiar with the setup: chief of staff Ron Klain; Annie Tomasini, director of Oval Office operations who has been described as "the person who runs his life;" and Ashley Williams, who sits outside the Oval Office as a type of executive assistant but was given the title of deputy director of Oval Office operations to signify her importance.
Some top aides, including senior adviser Mike Donilon and Steve Ricchetti, counselor to the president, have Oval Office walk-in privileges. So do Biden's dogs — one of the two German Shepherds, Major, visited him recently in the Oval Office, according to a White House official.
But in the same way it's impacted everyone across the country, the pandemic has changed how Biden works.
He has replaced in-person meetings with video calls. He allows only a limited number of people in the building — even staff that normally would have been in the West Wing are working from home or in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building next door. He doesn't leave the White House often, though he did go to the Capitol to honor the police officer killed at the Jan. 6 riots and to visit wounded soldiers. He isn't planning a foreign or domestic trips for now.
And until this week, when he invited senators of both parties to talk about Covid-19 recovery legislation, he was not asking visitors to the White House.
He still tries to interact with people when he can. On Jan. 25, the day Vice President Kamala Harris swore in Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, Biden invited his family into the Oval Office, according to the White House official. During a recent policy meeting, he stopped to call the child of a National Security Council staffer to say hello. And he visits staff in person, just to check in.
"Biden will get up and walk around the West Wing a fair amount, probably because he's so familiar with it," a former Biden aide said. "He's sat in the West Wing for eight years and he knows what the energy of the place is like."
Each day, Biden holds an intelligence briefing, receives a coronavirus update and reads a daily briefing book, which includes schedules, policy memos and intelligence briefs about the next day, according to the White House official.
"He likes a concise and thorough briefing paper that clarifies what are the competing concerns, backgrounds, who are the stakeholders, what are the precedents, what are the consequences and then discussing with core advisers and then debating it with outside experts," Coons said. "He learns at the intersections of reading and debating."
While Trump preferred not to read briefing documents and Obama preferred longer ones — sometimes dismissing the subsequent conversation with aides that followed — Biden wants a memo and then asks aides afterward what the impact would be in different parts of the country. "Policymaking for him is not a theoretical exercise," said Scott Mulhauser, a Democratic consultant and former Biden aide. "It's a practical endeavor."
Biden also consults a host of outside experts, some whom he has known from his decades in public office, some who are new to him, according to the three people. He will tick off a list of people he wants to talk to about an issue — anyone from a city council member in Wisconsin to a world leader in Europe — and will ask his staff to suggest a couple additional people he doesn't know.
The White House doesn't often announce the calls, but Biden is also talking regularly with governors, mayors and local elected officials to seek "input about how things are going on the ground," according to a White House official. Last Wednesday, for example, he called Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey, a Republican.
Most of the calls are scheduled by his staff. But sometimes, he just can't help himself, and makes the calls himself.
"He likes to talk to people," a former aide said. "He's the classic definition of extrovert. He likes to feed off other people and likes to win over rooms and people with his thinking and logic and policies and proposals and so part of the way you do that is you give feedback and get feedback by talking to people."
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We don't always know whose lives we touched and made better for having cared, because actions can sometimes have un-seen ramifications. What's important is that you do care and you do act.
Charlotte Lunsford
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How wonderful to have a "down to earth" president. A rock of Gibraltar. A man who is not only interesting but INTERESTED in moving forward with some precision but with care and concerns that people can move with him in as much unison as possible. It is not about HIM and he has such awareness that his whole life has been what is good for all. It is strange after the last four yrs. that someone far away in Washington that has never met me cares deeply about my welfare. This is was so needed and the world is turning into a much better place than it has been. Hope is alive and well and it is going to keep adding comfort to the level we have not enjoyed for a long time. We ae off to a wonderful beginning.
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I will be reading this:
Hunter Biden's memoir 'Beautiful Things' out in April
NEW YORK (AP) — Hunter Biden, son of President Joe Biden and an ongoing target for conservatives, has a memoir coming out April 6.
The book is called "Beautiful Things" and will center on the younger Biden's well publicized struggles with substance abuse, according to Gallery Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster. Acquired in the fall of 2019, "Beautiful Things" was kept under wraps even as Biden's business dealings became a fixation of then-President Donald Trump and others during the election and his finances a matter of investigation by the Justice Department.
"Beautiful Things" was circulated among several authors and includes advance praise from Stephen King, Dave Eggers and Anne Lamott.
"In his harrowing and compulsively readable memoir, Hunter Biden proves again that anybody — even the son of a United States President — can take a ride on the pink horse down nightmare alley," King writes in his blurb. "Biden remembers it all and tells it all with a bravery that is both heartbreaking and quite gorgeous. He starts with a question: Where's Hunter? The answer is he's in this book, the good, the bad, and the beautiful."
In a snippet released by Gallery, Biden writes in his book, "I come from a family forged by tragedies and bound by a remarkable, unbreakable love."
The president and first lady released a statement Thursday saying, "We admire our son Hunter's strength and courage to talk openly about his addiction so that others might see themselves in his journey and find hope."
During one of last fall's presidential debates, Joe Biden defended his son from attacks by Trump.
"My son, like a lot of people, like a lot of people you know at home, had a drug problem," the Democratic candidate said. "He's overtaken it. He's fixed it. He's worked on it, and I'm proud of him. I'm proud of my son."
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Hi,
Is your Zoom call only for a special group or can anyone join? I am approaching my 5 year cancerversary, as they say (it is actually this Saturday), and I've never had the opportunity to chat with other women. Sorry, if I am out in left field on this :-)
Thanks,
Nancy
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Nancy, I will be happy to include you! I am on my lunch break and am just about to send out invitations via pm.
Caryn
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Hello friends,
I have sent Zoom invites to all who are on the list that ruthbru posted on this thread earlier as well as to a few who pm'ed me. If you did not receive an invite via pm and want to join us, please pm me and I'll send it to you. The meeting time is Central Time so please make adjustments for your time zone. Although you need no special set up for Zoom, please remember to have your camera and audio turned on. Depending on the device you're using, you may have to do this in settings. Zoom works fairly well on mobile devices like iPads and phones and if you use the Zoom app (free) rather than your browser, mobiledevices are great (my students do all of their Zooming via iPad). See you there!
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Thanks, exbrnxgrl!
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Haha, don't you absolutely love this!
Fox News sued by Smartmatic for $2.7 billion over rigged election claims
The suit names Fox News, network personalities Lou Dobbs, Maria Bartiromo and Jeanine Pirro, and Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell.
Kevin Collier
Feb. 4, 2021
Smartmatic, an international elections equipment company, has sued Fox News for more than $2.7 billion over false reports it was part of a conspiracy to steal the 2020 election.
"Fox is responsible for this disinformation campaign, which has damaged democracy worldwide and irreparably harmed Smartmatic and other stakeholders who contribute to modern elections," Smartmatic CEO Antonio Mugica said in a statement on the company's website posted Tuesday
The suit names Fox News; network personalities Lou Dobbs, Maria Bartiromo and Jeanine Pirro; and Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell, the legal associates of former President Donald Trump, as defendants. It lays out 13 separate instances in which a Fox News personality or guest claimed that Smartmatic was used to rig the 2020 election.
"FOX News Media is committed to providing the full context of every story with in-depth reporting and clear opinion. We are proud of our 2020 election coverage and will vigorously defend this meritless lawsuit in court," a Fox spokesperson said in an emailed statement.
Smartmatic largely sells its equipment and services in Europe, as well as Zambia, Argentina and the Philippines. A company spokesperson, Samira Saba, said in an email that the only area in the U.S. that has hired Smartmatic for general election services since 2016 is Los Angeles County.
Nevertheless, the company became inexplicably part of a sprawling conspiracy theory, often repeated on Fox, that claimed the election was fraudulent. At times, it involved Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his deceased predecessor, Hugo Chavez, and meritless claims that Smartmatic machines could be hacked to secretly change U.S. voters' choices.
A joint statement from the head election officials in each state, as well as the federal officials who oversaw election cybersecurity, said that the 2020 election's safeguards made it "the most secure in American history," and a coalition of the country's top cybersecurity experts wrote that they found "no credible evidence of computer fraud."
The lawsuit marks the third time since the election that a voting company has filed a defamation lawsuit over the conspiracy theories shared on right-wing media that falsely denied President Joe Biden had won the 2020 election. Dominion Voting Systems, which provides equipment in 26 states, has so far sued Giuliani and Powell for more than $1.3 billion each. In a press conference in January, Tom Clare, an attorney for Dominion, said the company planned additional suits.
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https://bit.ly/2YMglx2 Just a view from the other side. This is so hard to take. Just to clarify -- I tried the link so make sure it posted so that is why the edit. I still find it so difficult to hear/know that there are people who really THINK this is a real thing and happens. I'm not sure ( were I to run into one of these people ) what I'd do and whether I'd call the local mental health dept. to come help the person, were I to hear it first-hand from someone.
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And it's catchy too!
Yellen thanks rapper behind Hamilton-style song about her: 'Your tune is money'
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Hello again,
Just to make it easier, feel free to copy my Zoom invite to send to a bco member who might be interested in joining us. Please copy and send via PM. Please do not publicly post the invite or details as that is how most Zoom bombing happens. Thanks
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I edited my list of those interested to correct a screen name which I help spelled wrong, and to include nowaldron.
Everyone is invited. It is very fun to put faces to names and to hang out!
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Feminist News
Julie Briskman was the cyclist who gave the Trump motorcade the finger. Donald Trump was so angry he demanded that she be fired, and she was.
She was so angry she decided to run for office and defeated the local Republican candidate on her local Virginia State Council.
She was sworn in a few days ago.
But the story gets better.
She is now on the Local Board of Supervisors that overseas legislation for leisure facilities in her county.
A county which includes Trump's National Golf Club0 -
In First Speech as Budget Chair, Sanders Rebuffs 'Partisanship' Complaints From GOP That Unilaterally Passed $1.9T Gift for Rich
"Eighty-three percent of the benefits of the Trump tax plan went to the 1% and large corporations... There was not one Democrat that voted for that bill."
Jake Johnson, Common Dreams
In his first speech on the Senate floor since officially becoming chairman of the chamber's budget committee on Wednesday, Sen. Bernie Sanders reminded Republican senators complaining about the Democratic majority's effort to pass coronavirus relief through the filibuster-proof reconciliation processthat the GOP used the same tool to unilaterally ram through tax cuts for the wealthy just over three years ago.
"There has been some discussion here, the media seems fixated, on the issue of partisanship," said the Vermont senator. "Oh my god, we're being so partisan. So let me remind everybody... under the Trump administration, massive tax breaks were passed that went to the top 1% and large corporations—83% of the benefits of the Trump tax plan went to the 1% and large corporations. And you know how bipartisan that bill was, passed in reconciliation? There was not one Democrat that voted for that bill. It was [passed] just with Republican votes."
"Then outrageously, as part of reconciliation, Republicans came forward and said, 'Hey, we think it's a brilliant idea to repeal the Affordable Care Act and throw up to 32 million people off the healthcare that they have," Sanders said, recounting the GOP's failed 2017 effort. "Not one Democrat voted for that bill. My point is that it's one thing for my Republican friends here to be talking about the need for bipartisanship, which all of us support. But the reality is they used exactly the same process to pass—or at least try to pass—major, major pieces of legislation."
Sanders floor remarks came after Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and other Republicans delivered speeches Wednesday denouncing Democrats' efforts to go it alone on coronavirus relief amid open GOP hostilityto the level of spending that experts say is neededto combat the ongoing public health emergency and bring the U.S. economy out of deep recession.
"Less than a day after several Senate Republicans spent two hours meeting with President Biden, Senate Democrats plowed ahead with a party-line vote to set the table for a partisan jam," said McConnell, who led the Senate GOP's unilateral tax-cut push in 2017. In 2018, the Congressional Budget Office estimated that the tax legislation would add $1.9 trillionto the national debt over ten years.
Coincidentally, $1.9 trillion is also the top-line price tag of President Joe Biden's relief proposal, which Republican senators have rejected as excessiveeven as the coronavirus continues to spread across the country and the economy remains in shambles, leaving millions hungry, out of work, and at risk of eviction.
In an appearanceon CNNlate Wednesday, Sanders said he does not support making changes to the president's opening relief offer in an effort to win the backing of Republicans who, now that a Democrat is in the White House, are suddenly concernedabout the soaring deficit.
Sanders specifically rejected an ongoing push by some Democratic senatorsto narrow eligibility for the $1,400 direct payments in Biden's plan. Economic relief, the Vermont senator argued, should not be needlessly curtailed amid such widespread suffering.
"The priority that I see is addressing the crises facing working families," said Sanders. "When you got millions of people out there worried about how they're gonna feed their kids, or how they're gonna get enough income to pay the rent, that is the priority that we have to address."
"Right now, tens of millions of working families, middle-class people, low-income people are in crisis," the Vermont senator added. "They need help, they need help now."
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Miriandra It is catchy and I loved it.
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Nice to hear. Greene is stripped of her committee assignments.
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Yay!!!
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YES!!!!
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Good one.
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More reasons to love Gaga
Why this Marine was chosen to escort Lady Gaga at the inauguration
Marine Capt. Evan Campbell is opening up about being backstage with Lady Gaga minutes before she performed "The Star-Spangled Banner" on Inauguration Day.
By Alexander Kacala
One of the more notable moments from Inauguration Day was Lady Gaga's powerful rendition of the "The Star-Spangled Banner." But it was her outfit and her Marine escort that also went viral that day.
With many people comparing the 34-year-old pop star to a character from "The Hunger Games," it turns out the oversized Schiaparelli haute couture gown she wore was the reason she needed a Marine to accompany her in the first place.
"There was a concern — obviously she was wearing this very beautiful, very large dress, and there was a concern that she might need some help getting down the stairs," Marine Capt. Evan Campbell told Task and Purpose. "So they basically looked around and I was one of the taller, larger individuals, and they just asked if I would be willing to assist and I was more than happy to."
According to the Marine Times, they "shared a laugh" before walking out together.
"She looked at me and she's like 'a fair warning... we have an equal chance of tripping on this,'" he told the publication.
The two also prayed together and Campbell calmed Gaga's nerves, he said.
"It just seemed like a very natural human thing to do to look over and go, 'Hey you're going to do great. You always do well, you know, you're a performer, you're going to do great,'" Campbell said. "It just seemed like she needed to hear a relaxed voice."
Not a Little Monster (the name for Gaga fans) before their meeting, Campbell says he is now after sharing the intimate 15 minutes backstage with her.
"I mean, millions of people have now seen a United States Marine with Lady Gaga, so I'm just glad I did the Marine Corps proud on this one."
Marine Capt. Evan Campbell
"I was truly impressed with how genuine she was while we were inside," Campbell said, adding as he escorted to the podium, she thanked every member of the Capitol Police on the way.
"She told us inside that this was perhaps the biggest day of her life, and that she really wanted to sing for all Americans," he added.
"As a person that was an amazing thing to hear, but as a service member too, the way she prepped to sing the national anthem, obviously resonated with me very deeply as someone that's sworn an oath to defend their country."
On what he feels most proud of from that day, he says going viral next to the famous pop star got to shed some light on the esteemed branch of the military he represents.
"The biggest thing for me is when those memes came out — you know, find someone that looks at you the way she looks at a United States Marines — I took a lot of pride in that," Campbell said. "I think at the end of the day, we all want to do something that represents the Marine Corps well … people were sending me posts from Vogue Paris, Cosmo, I mean, millions of people have now seen a United States Marine with Lady Gaga, so I'm just glad I did the Marine Corps proud on this one."
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Awww......that made me cry!
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I love that we have finally gone back to having such a visible First Lady. Two-and-a-half weeks into the administration, Jill Biden is doing a public service announcement to be airing this Sunday during The Puppy Bowl. Mel Mel didn’t even move to D.C. until what, the summer after her hubby was inaugurated? Such a welcoming change of pace.
Puppy Bowl XVII to feature First Lady Jill Biden message
(CNN) — American dog royalty will be making an appearance at Puppy Bowl XVII.
First Lady Jill Biden has filmed a public service announcement to air during the Discovery+ event, a beloved bit of alternative programming that runs on Super Bowl Sunday.
In the video, Biden is seen in the White House, seated before a fire with the family's two German shepherds, first dogs Champ and Major.
See more
"For a lot of us during this pandemic, our pets have been such a source of joy and comfort," she says. "And maybe a bark or two on a video conference."
She then points out how owners owe it to their pets to stay healthy so everyone should don a mask -- especially when out walking their dogs.
The appearance of Champ and Major (not to mention First Lady Jill Biden) is fitting because part of the Puppy Bowl's mission is to spread the word about how wonderful shelter pets can be and how deserving they are of a second chance.
The Bidens adopted Major from the Delaware Humane Association and is believed to be the first shelter dog to live in the White House.
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Speaking of change of pace, yes, it was a relief that MT Greene was stripped of her committee assignments. She boo-hooed that her controversial comments were made a couple years ago. I read an article where before she was ousted from the committees, House Majority Leader Rep. Steny Hoyer blew up and printed one of her threats posted to social media: a graphic she posted to Facebook in September, where she is brandishing an AR-15 next to the faces of Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, and Rashida Tlaib. The caption reads, "Squad's worst nightmare."
"I urge my colleagues to look at this photo," Hoyer said, hoisting the poster up high and walking around the House floor. "They're not 'the Squad.' They're Ilhan. They're Alexandria. They're Rashida. They are people. They are our colleagues," Hoyer said. Hoyer mentioned that two of the women are mothers and have six children between them, and also spoke of the progressive policies championed by the three, and sarcastically said, "How awful." He said, “I have never, ever, seen that before. Is this a precedent-setting event? It is! Is that what it was intended to do, that each one of these ladies would have a nightmare about somebody with a gun, an AR-15?"
*******
And my observation of the poster is that once again, photos were chosen of the 3 Democratic women where they look angry or are yelling. Meantime, MTG's profile picture shows a blonde haired, smiling woman. I get so sick of the manipulation of how women are visibly portrayed.
Plus, how do Republicans sleep at night after taking no action towards Greene?
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There's a difference between saying/doing stupid things before you are elected and actually dehumanizing and threatening to kill people....just saying.....and to think Al Franken was booted from the Senate because of a plain old stupid picture from the past. Astounding hypocrisy, although I guess I shouldn't be astounded by anything anymore!
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To free us from the expectations of others,
to give us back to ourselves -
there lies the great singular power of self-respect.
- Joan Didion0
