Jackson out, Franklin in
It’s another not-Trump, but since it has been Trump for all this time let’s enjoy the not-Trump now that we can.
Trail of Tears guy out; good.
This is more than not-Trump; a lot more.
And does it in the building that was a scene of violence, intimidation and death just two weeks ago. Take that, haterz.
Great for all of you in the US. Good for the rest of us as well frankly. Even if Biden/Harris turn out to be moderately conservative, establishment, leaning into lawnorder, US centric, it will still be better for all of us than what we’ve had. At least they’re not outright evil and are somewhat attached to facts.
Another not-Trump moment: Jennifer López singing “This Land is Your Land”. I wasn’t impressed with the performance, but the symbolism of a Latina singing Woody Guthrie’s subversive socialist paean to inclusion to the first woman VP and VP of color (and the most diverse Cabinet ever) after four years of the most openly white supremacist administration in recent history was stunning.
But there’s also this:
And the word is that it’s not good. I haven’t had time to look into it and I know nothing of the implications but it could be very problematic for women’s rights.
Well, we can’t have everything. Sanders would have been better, but even he is not a socialist by world standards. He would fit very comfortably into many European conservative parties.
Here’s the executive order Biden signed yesterday on Preventing and Combating Discrimination on the Basis of Gender Identity or Sexual Orientation:
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2021/01/20/executive-order-preventing-and-combating-discrimination-on-basis-of-gender-identity-or-sexual-orientation/
I’m not sure there’s anything actually bad in the wording (I think we all want people of every gender identity (whatever that is) to be protected under law and so on) but it’s all in the implementation, isn’t it, and something we ought to keep a cynical eye on.
Followimg on from latsot, if confirmed by the Senate, Biden’s Asst. Health Secretary will be Dr. Rachel Levine, a TiM who was previously Pennsylvania’s health secretary. It will be interesting to see how that plays out, given that Dr. Levine has said that ‘with very few exceptions’ his being transgender is not an issue. Presumably, Covid will be the all-consuming issue for the health dept. for a long time yet, but it’s still something to keep an eye on. There are a lot of women-only services in health, such as all-female hospital wards, that may be vulnerable to pro-trans legislation.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jan/19/joe-biden-rachel-levine-transgender-assistant-health-secretary
latsot @3 & @5:
Yes, that’s the so-called Equality Act, and it’s a direct threat to Title IX rights for women in the USA. There’s the very real possibility that women’s sports will suffer huge setbacks, and with it, scholarships, careers, sponsorships, etc.
We knew that Biden supported this stupidity but were willing to fight him over it in order to get Trump out. So now we have to fight. Biden needs to know that it’s a tiny proportion of the population that cares about this Act passing into law, and that he’s going to torpedo himself the same way that Labour did in the UK if he pushes it.
I don’t like making this argument against trans desires; it would be the same as making an argument against Jewish rights or other groups that are not large. Not being a majority shouldn’t be the arguing point, IMHO.
Here is the argument that is the most appropriate, I believe (also from James Garnett):
That should be enough to at least raise red flags; it should actually be enough to turn every flag red. That’s a good argument against giving in to all of trans demands; the size of the group is not.