babylonsister
babylonsister's JournalMeghan McCain: Replace Dr. Fauci With Someone Who 'Understands Science'
Oh, brother. She's 'inconvenienced'? We're all waiting, meggie. Get in line and suck it up. 
https://www.thedailybeast.com/meghan-mccain-calls-on-biden-to-replace-dr-fauci-with-someone-who-understands-science?ref=home
Meghan McCain: Replace Dr. Fauci With Someone Who ‘Understands Science’
‘I’M OVER DR. FAUCI’
“The fact that I, Meghan McCain, co-host of The View, don’t know when or how I will be able to get a vaccine…” she ranted.
Matt Wilstein
Senior Writer
Updated Feb. 22, 2021 2:51PM ET / Published Feb. 22, 2021 11:59AM ET
snip//
“I want to be responsible and obviously wait my turn,” she continued, “but this rollout has been a disaster. And I understand President Trump can take much of the blame, but now we’re in the Biden administration and I, for one, would like something to look forward to and to hope for because if getting the vaccine means that just nothing changes and we have to wait another few years until everyone gets it, there’s already a lot of people not getting it.
“So I’m over Dr. Fauci,” McCain declared. “I think we need to have more people giving more opinions and honestly quite frankly, I think the Biden administration should remove him and put someone in place that does understand science or can talk like these other countries about how we can be more like these other places that are doing this successfully.”
It’s one thing to criticize the Biden administration’s messaging around vaccines, but for McCain to suggest that Fauci doesn’t “understand science” was clearly beyond the pale for moderator Whoopi Goldberg, who talked over her co-host and threw to commercial as she explained, “I know what I’m saying is controversial, I really do. But I’m not a phony and I’m not going to come on air and say something different than what I’m saying privately.”
Forced to Wait by Trump, First Group of Asylum Seekers Finally Allowed to Enter the United States
February 19, 2021
Forced to Wait by Trump, First Group of Asylum Seekers Finally Allowed to Enter the United States
Fernanda Echavarri
On Friday, the first group of asylum seekers forced to wait in Mexico for much of the last two years under a Trump-era doctrine began to enter the United States. Their arrival marks an official end to Trump’s callous “Remain in Mexico” policy. And the start of the government’s processing of approximately 25,000 active asylum cases for the people marooned in border cities.
https://twitter.com/i/status/1362836203964301320
People who were placed under Migrant Protection Protocols and who still have an open case can now enter their information on this website. If they’re eligible, they receive a date and time for their appointment at one of three ports of entry. On Friday it was only San Diego, but the plan is to expand to the ports at Brownsville Monday and El Paso by February 26.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees is helping triage in Mexico and will help administer the required COVID-19 test for those who are called to be processed. Once in the United States, asylum seekers will be allowed to continue their asylum cases in the immigration court closest to their final destination. Organizations like the Jewish Family Services of San Diego plan to assist people after they enter.
more...
https://www.motherjones.com/mojo-wire/2021/02/forced-to-wait-by-trump-first-group-of-asylum-seekers-finally-allowed-to-enter-the-united-states/
Eric Boehlert: With Trump gone, CNN pulls the plug on White House press briefings
With Trump gone, CNN pulls the plug on White House press briefings
Different rules for Dems
Eric Boehlert
2 hr ago
After creating new programming rules for the Trump administration and airing virtually every minute of every White House press briefing live and in its entirety, CNN has quietly cut the chord with the new Democratic administration.
Just one month into President Joe Biden's term, the all-news cable channel last week stopped airing the daily White House press briefings. Perhaps the events weren't entertaining enough, as White House spokesperson Jen Psaki has routinely declined to insert Biden into cultural war debates, refused to castigate reporters, and won’t make stuff up in the name of partisan warfare, the way her Republican predecessors did.
Instead, Psaki has answered questions as best she can about White House policy, while treating journalists with respect, instead of mocking them in search of cheap political points.
That's no longer considered must-see TV at CNN. Fox News also stopped airing the briefings, which is completely expected. MSNBC as of last week was still airing the live Q&A's from the White House.
CNN's move represents one of the most dramatic ways the press has changed the way it covers Biden, as compared to Trump. Suddenly gone is the nonstop, unfiltered coverage of White House briefings, which defined cable news during the past four years.
more...
https://pressrun.media/p/with-trump-gone-cnn-pulls-the-plug
Biden's Revolution Is Doing What Obama and Clinton Did Not
Paywall unfortunately.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/bidens-revolution-is-doing-what-obama-and-clinton-did-not?ref=home
Biden’s Revolution Is Doing What Obama and Clinton Did Not
‘MAKE ME DO IT’
One month in, the 46th president is respecting the left even when it wants to go further than he will, and he’s dismissing bad-faith conservative complaints about his agenda.
Michael Tomasky
Special Correspondent
Updated Feb. 22, 2021 7:12AM ET / Published Feb. 22, 2021 4:05AM ET
We’re one month and change into the Biden presidency, and let’s just say it. He’s been staggeringly good. He has way surpassed my expectations. And it’s small wonder he has a 63 percent approval rating. Most people like what they see.
What’s he done, in big-picture terms? Three things. First and foremost, he and his team are not letting themselves be bullied by the economic supply-siders and neoliberals who’ve spent the last few decades transferring $50 trillion in wealth from the middle class to the rich.
Second, the Biden team understands that the standard Beltway definition of bipartisanship is useless with today’s Republican Party. The Biden people get that congressional Republicans don’t even really represent most rank-and-file Republicans anymore—hence these polls showing significant support even among Republicans for most aspects of the COVID relief bill. This administration shows every sign of not letting itself get suckered into the false promise of trying to win Republican votes that aren’t likely to materialize.
Third, they don’t have contempt for Democrats to their left, which is a great thing to see. History tells us pretty clearly in my view that progress is made in this country when activists on the left go out and agitate and change public opinion and liberals codify that change by writing laws. The Biden people clearly agree with this view.
more...
https://www.thedailybeast.com/bidens-revolution-is-doing-what-obama-and-clinton-did-not?ref=home
19,000 Pennsylvania Republicans Have Left Party
https://politicalwire.com/2021/02/22/19000-pennsylvania-republicans-have-left-party/19,000 Pennsylvania Republicans Have Left Party
February 22, 2021 at 7:06 am EST By Taegan Goddard
“And there are signs of a broader political shift underway. These are often longtime party loyalists, highly engaged voters who cast Republican primary ballots in low-profile, off-year elections… They haven’t changed their political ideologies, they said in interviews. But they’re registering as third-party or independent voters because they believe that their political home, now led by Trump, has changed around them.”
“That raises the prospect of a Republican primary electorate even friendlier to Trump and Trump-allied candidates — something that could have big implications for the party in competitive races for governor and U.S. Senate next year.”
U.S. Vaccine Rollout Now Among Best In the World
Thank you, President Biden! 
https://politicalwire.com/2021/02/21/u-s-vaccine-rollout-now-among-best-in-the-world/
U.S. Vaccine Rollout Now Among Best In the World
February 21, 2021 at 8:04 am EST By Taegan Goddard
“The U.S. has carried out more vaccinations than any country in the world, and given a first dose to a higher percentage of its population (12%) than all but five countries: Israel, the Seychelles, the UAE, the U.K. and Bahrain.”
“In fact, the U.S. is distributing doses three times as quickly as the EU, adjusted for population, and nearly five times as quickly as Canada.”
Christie on Cruz
https://politicalwire.com/2021/02/20/quote-of-the-day-2814/Quote of the Day
February 20, 2021 at 3:44 pm EST By Taegan Goddard
— Former Gov. Chris Christie (R), quoted by HuffPost.
Colin Allred Clobbers Uber-Wealthy Jerry Jones For Gouging Poor Texans
https://crooksandliars.com/2021/02/rep-allred-jerry-jones-should-use-his2/20/21 11:02am
Read time: 2 minutes
Colin Allred Clobbers Uber-Wealthy Jerry Jones For Gouging Poor Texans
Rep. Colin Allred called for an investigation into Dallas Cowboys’ owner Jerry Jones’ price gouging of natural gas during the Texas power crisis and, at the very least, to donate the dough he’s making off his customers’ hardships back into the community.
By NewsHound Ellen
5 hours ago by NewsHound Ellen
VIDEO AT LINK~
Appearing on MSNBC today, Allred proved he’s the anti-Ted Cruz. Instead of jetting off for a luxury vacation while Texans freeze amid food and water shortages, Allred is busy trying to help them.
Allred said he’s been phone banking with constituents, checking in on them, seeing if he can get water to those most vulnerable and even getting help for a domestic violence shelter that needed to relocate. He called Cruz’s excuse that there was nothing a U.S. senator could do to help “nonsense.”
Then there is Jones. For him, the Texas disaster has been “like hitting the jackpot” as the CFO at Jones’ natural gas company heartlessly put it. “Frankly, we were able to sell at super premium prices for a material amount of production.”
Allred had no patience for that, either.
ALLRED: I think there has to be an investigation into it. There are laws against price gouging. We’ll have to see if any of those laws were broken during this crisis. But at the very least, Tiffany, I would hope that some of the folks who are the richest and wealthiest among us, who have gotten even richer while Texans have frozen to death, would choose on their own to contribute the profits from what they've made to charities, to the state, to whatever it takes to help the folks that are the most impacted. I think that would be the best thing for them to do in their own personal capacities.
Host Tiffany Cross pointed out that residents of Arlington (part of the Dallas metro area) "have contributed over $300 million for Jerry Jones' playhouse, so certainly you would think he would contribute back to those constituents."
Wyden, Neguse push 21st Century Civilian Conservation Corps legislation, with billions in funding
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2021/2/19/2016994/-Wyden-Neguse-push-21st-Century-Civilian-Conservation-Corps-legislation-with-billions-in-funding
Wyden, Neguse push 21st Century Civilian Conservation Corps legislation, with billions in funding
Meteor Blades
Daily Kos Staff
Friday February 19, 2021 · 12:57 PM EST
Last month, as we reported, President Joe Biden in an executive order gave several federal departments, including the Departments of the Interior and Agriculture, 90 days to come up with a plan for the formation of a Civilian Climate Corps—an echo of the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) of the 1930s, which is widely viewed as the most popular of the New Deal’s programs. In the midst of the Great Depression, the CCC put 3 million young men to work between 1933 and 1942. Reestablishment of a new CCC has been proposed for years, including during the Great Recession.
On Friday, Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon and Rep. Joe Neguse of Colorado resurrected 2020 legislation that would establish a "21st Century Civilian Conservation Corps Act" with $38.8 billion in funding with $9 billion of it going to hire and train men and women for outdoor jobs constructing trails, controlling invasive species, restoring wetlands, building parks, and, like its predecessor decades ago, planting trees.
Susan Jane M. Brown, staff attorney at the Western Environmental Law Center, said: “Reinvesting in America’s public lands is a win for all of us who work and play on these lands. This legislation will provide important support for critical programs that are essential to stewardship of our national forests, parks, and other public lands.”
Neguse, who is chairman of the U.S. House Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests and Public Lands, said:
Said Wyden, who is a senior member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources:
Emma Dumain at E&E Daily reports that the Wyden-Neguse bill would put millions of dollars into existing federal projects, a number of which are meant to meet urgent needs. For instance, upgrading "decrepit and underfunded drinking water systems" on tribal lands would be prioritized for hiring, together with implementing a Forest Service program to "prevent, mitigate and respond" to wildfires around homes and businesses on private lands.
A section-by-section look at the legislation can be accessed here. And here is a brief summary of the proposal:
Establishes a $2 billion fund to provide economic relief for outfitters and guides holding U.S. Forest Service and U.S. Department of the Interior special use permits;
Provides an additional $500 million for Tribal drinking water infrastructure repairs, prioritizing Tribal communities that have decrepit and underfunded drinking water systems causing health and safety emergencies;
Provides $2 billion for the National Fire Capacity program, which helps the Forest Service implement FireWise, to prevent, mitigate, and respond to wildfire around homes and businesses on private land;
Provides $2 billion for the FEMA Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) program to improve resiliency for communities impacted by wildfire;
Provides $6 billion for U.S. Forest Service, $6 billion for the National Park Service, and $2 billion for the Bureau of Land Management maintenance accounts to create jobs, reduce the maintenance backlog, and expand access to recreation;
Provides an additional $3.5 billion for the U.S. Forest Service and $2 billion for the U.S. Bureau of Land Management to support science-based projects aimed at improving forest health and reducing the risk of catastrophic wildfire;
Provides $3.5 billion for reforestation projects on a combination of federal, state, local, tribal and NGO lands, with over one hundred million trees to be planted in urban areas across America by 2030;
Increases access to public lands through expanding and investing in programs like Every Kid Outdoors and the Outdoor Recreation Legacy Partnership;
Supports voluntary climate stewardship practices on over 100 million acres of farmland by providing supplemental funding for USDA working lands conservation programs; and
Helps restore and improve rangeland health by providing an additional $150 million for the North American Waterfowl Management and Joint Ventures program and $150 million for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Partners for Fish and Wildlife.
Leading Dem eyes new route to banning Trump from public office
Leading Dem eyes new route to banning Trump from public office
According to the Constitution, those who "engaged in insurrection or rebellion," or aided them, can't seek elected office. This is relevant anew.
Feb. 19, 2021, 11:05 AM EST
By Steve Benen
For many of Donald Trump's critics, last week's impeachment trial was about more than simply holding former president accountable for inciting an insurrectionist riot. It was also about the vote that could've soon followed the trial.
If Trump had been convicted, Congress could've proceeded with a measure to ban Trump from ever again holding public office. That, obviously, is no longer an option.
But if there were another way? Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), a former constitutional law professor who led the team of House impeachment managers in last week's trial, talked to ABC News this week about Section 3 of the 14th Amendment being used to block Trump from running again.
The constitutional language, of course, was in response to the Civil War. The point at the time was to bar those who threatened our democracy and took up arms against the United States -- and their allies -- from trying to return to elected politics.
The provision hasn't been especially relevant in recent years, but it's hardly a stretch to think it could be applied to Trump.
more...
https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/leading-dem-eyes-new-route-banning-trump-public-office-n1258340
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